Two Demons
by disneyandbooks
Summary: An alternate world where the Circle was never formed. Jon has always lived in the shadow of his younger sister, Clary. But after he learns of people who claim that there's something wrong with the world, he finally has a chance to prove himself with a new team of Shadowhunter friends. But in his absense will Jace Herondale get in the way of his friendship with his sister?
1. Consul Clary

"I can't believe you just killed that Ravener demon with a tree branch" Jon said derisively. "It did have runes on it" his sister replied, flicking her fiery red hair over her shoulder dramatically, "besides, what was I supposed to use? My Sensor?" "Haha even you couldn't kill a Ravener demon with a Sensor". Despite the jokes, Jon couldn't help but look at his sister with pride knowing that, deep down, he really believed she could do something like that; she was unstoppable. "It's worrying how more and more demons are making their way to the borders every day. I know they can't get through but it makes me think something's being planned". They lived inside the borders of Alicante with their parents, where demons would never stand a chance of invading. This worried Jon; it took a lot to make his sister worried about demons, especially seeing as she both lived safely within the borders of the city and also just so happened to be one of the most promising Shadowhunters of their generation. Clarissa Morgenstern is rivalled by no one in the training room he used to hear their instructors say, I wouldn't be surprised if one day Clarissa Morgenstern made Consul their neighbours would whisper when they didn't think Jon could hear. Jon wasn't jealous of Clary; he was proud that a Morgenstern was on her way to respectability with the Clave and he would light up at seeing how happy it made their mother. But their father loved to point out how humiliating it was for his son, who shares his name with the first ever Shadowhunter, to be forever bested by his baby sister. "It's not like you to be worried" he finally said. "Don't you ever find it strange how we spend our entire lives fighting demons and rogue Downworlders and that's it? Don't you think there'd be at least one bad Shadowhunter out there?" "What are you trying to say?" "I'm saying that these demons are getting closer to our borders and it's illogical for them to think they have any chance of invading the city, so isn't it possible that there could be someone helping them?" "Clary; there hasn't been a known corrupt Shadowhunter since Benedict Lightwood and his descendents are still keeping their distance from Idris because of it. You need to accept that all Shadowhunters are loyal and obedient to the Clave; if you carry on looking for a fight amongst your own people it'll be you they think is the evil one". Clary sighed in agreement and met her brother's eyes –no one could ever decide if they were dark green or black- with her own, "I suppose your right. Come on, the Penhallows are having a Downworlder Fancy-Dress Party tonight at their house and I need time to sort out my Fae costume". "You're going as Fae?" Clary had for some strange reason always had a deep hatred for the Fair Folk, so it was even stranger that she'd be prepared to dress up as one. "What could be better? Sexy goddess on the outside and fierce warrior on the inside equals perfect fit" "You are so full of yourself" "If it gets a boy's attention then I'll be as big-headed as I like". They both laughed as they made their way back through the copse of trees leading towards the borders. They were nearly there when a distinct rustling sound started to flare up from behind them. "Clary?" "Yeeeeeeeeessss" she appeared unfazed by the noise, unlike my paranoid brother she would probably say. "Before we lauched the assault on that pack of Ravener demons, how many did we count? How many where in the glade?" "Seven" "Okay; I killed two and you killed-?" "I made sure to kill four as it is my personal duty to be twice as good as you at everything. Don't worry I'll tell dad you killed three if it'll make you feel better-" "-except I didn't kill three, I killed two. And you killed four". "I really don't see where you're going with this" "I. Killed. Two. And. You. Killed. Four." "Oh" realisation dawned on her face; she hardly ever looked terrified. "I take it you're suggesting that lucky seven is what's making those noises in the bushes behind us. I just thought it was Uncle Lucian and Celine trying to 'liven up their relationship' again so I was trying to ignore it-" "LOOK OUT!" a deep voice shouted from somewhere in front of them. Jon fumbled with his weapons and was very satisfied to have armed himself in less than five seconds, until he glanced to the side to see Future Consul Clary already in battle stance with two seraph blades glowing at the ready and a very angry Ravener demon with serious slash marks on its back. "You got a hit already?!" Jon whined. "It wasn't me. It was him". She pointed towards the blurred figure circling the demon with agile grace; Jon could just made out a mess of blonde hair that in the shadows looked brown and eyes that should've been gold but had surprising flecks of blue. The perfect combination of his parents Jon thought. He'd seen this boy only once before. Uncle Lucian had been reluctant to bring his overly arrogant nephew to the Fairchilds' annual Christmas party but Stephen and Amatis wanted him to get out more; also the Inquisitor had nearly punched him in the face for even hinting at refusing to allow her darling grandson and his talents to be paraded in front of their friends. Well he's got nothing on Clary. Still, he was achieving direct hits every time he lunged toward the demon and only once suffered a counter attack; Clary never suffers from counter attacks oh stop being so bitter Jon. His sister looked furious at seeing this pride-hungry boy trying to claim her prey and it wasn't long before she was beating him to the stab almost every time. Almost. He definitely knew what he was doing and, weirdly, starting orchestrating his movements and stances in accordance with Clary's until the demon was clearly weakened by their combined effort. "Skinny get over here!" the boy shouted in Jon's direction, "I could snap you in two but luckily I've weakened this Ravener so even you should be able to make the kill". "You weakened it?!" Clary shouted incredulously, "I don't know who you think you are but you'd be dead right now if it wasn't for me and my hits on that thing". "Unfortunately, Red, you are clearly mistaken. I don't need a girl to kill my demons for me, you could help me out with other things though-" "Go home to your Grandma, Herondale". "Are you implying that I'm a Grandma's boy? Daddy's girl?" "I am not a daddy's girl". "Then who are you trying to impress? This guy?" That's right Jon thought solemnly, I'm obviously not a skilled Shadowhunter near the end of his training, I'm just Future Consul Clary's pathetic older brother who takes five whole seconds to arm himself and always gets overlooked by everyone in the whole world ever. "Leave him alone. He's my brother". "I'm so sorry" he said, sounding genuinely seriously, "I have three siblings you see so I know what it's like to be completely superior to them in every way and we have that in common-" "Go! Now!" "Fine! My earlier offer of assistance in the non-demon-slaying region still stands if you're interested-" he was actually smiling. "NOW!" she yelled, watching him with disdain as he strolled along past the borders into Alicante with that smug smile on his face the entire time. I already hate him. Jon couldn't tell if the red in his sister's cheeks, almost the same colour as her hair, was the cause of anger, embarrassment, or even blushing? No. Clary is ruthless. She'd never blush. Especially not for a guy like Jonathan Herondale. 


	2. Fastening Wings

"Can you fasten my wings?"

"This conversation isn't over yet"

"I know, it'll be over once you fasten my wings". Jon sighed and started to fasten Clary's fake wings to her faerie costume. Ever since they got home he'd been trying to warn her away from the Herondale boy but she wouldn't listen.

"He's bad news Clary, not to mention he's a complete d-"

"Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern I sincerely hope you're not swearing at your sister!" their mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs. Before he had a chance to answer she had come up the stairs and opened the door to Clary's room. "That boy may be . . . peculiar . . . but he is Lucian's nephew and I won't let you use such language in this house". Jocelyn Morgenstern looked exactly like an older, more graceful Clary and her slight aversion to demon fighting made her practically the only person in Idris who wasn't disappointed in Jon for not being as good as his sister: _yet she still shouts at me._

"Sorry" he muttered.

"Aren't you going to the Penhallow party too? Oh that reminds me Clary, Aline is downstairs; should I send her up?".

"Yes yes yes yes!" Clary squealed

"Wonderful" Jon whined sarcastically, "and unfortunately I may be forced to go to the party mother".

"But where's your costume?"

"Do mundanes count as Downworlders?"

"No"

"Then I don't have a costume".

"Your father has a Dracula costume hidden around somewhere; when we were younger he'd wear it on the day of the Accords' signing to offend the vampires but I'm sure he'd let you borrow it" she left in search of the costume.

"Clazzer!" screamed a voice from down the hallway; Clary jumped from her seat, wings now attached, and leapt through the door.

"Liney!" Jon started to whine again as 'Clazzer' and 'Liney' (_those are awful nicknames) _hugged and began to jump up and down in girlish excitement. He was in the middle of looking for a blunt weapon to end his misery with when they came back into the room. "Why aren't you at your house setting things up? By the way love the Seelie Queen costume, you just need to work on that sinister bitchy facial expression she has".

"Harsh! And I just _had _to come and talk to you before it started; Jocasta Trueblood told Ryan Monteclaire who told Horace Greenshade who told Helen Blackthorn who told me that the _Lightwoods _plan on making an appearance at the party tonight".

"No. Way"

"Yes".

"No.

"Yes. Way".

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

_Kill me Raziel._

"Jocasta found out from her uncle (who's related to one of the Lightwoods) that they came to Alicante last night and are actually being allowed to spend time in the city! Two of their children are about our age and were asking about the party!"

"This could be veeery interesting" Clary said with an excited grin.

"Jon you _have _to come now!" Aline urged.

"I have no interest in dressing up in a humiliating costume in order to meet some exiled Shadowhunters who should have kept well away from our city".

"You don't want to come? We could find you a costume"

"It's too late now; nothing could persuade me to dress up-"

"Jon I found the Dracula costume! It'll look so good on you!" Jocelyn announced from the doorway, holding a hanger with a horrific vampire costume attached to it.

_Seriously Raziel, I'll ask one more time._

"Can you fasten my wings?"

"Seriously Jonathan you're going to offend _everyone _by going to a Downworlder party dressed as an angel"

"It's my job to show the Shadowhunters of our generation how superior I am to them; and I told you, call me Jace". His brother reluctantly started to fasten the gold angel wings to the back of his costume, muttering under his breath the entire time. He was only one year younger than Jace, so he was also going to the party. His faerie knight costume looked very regal against his dark-brown-but-almost-black hair and matched his blue eyes. "Thanks Will".

"William"

"Whatever".

"Why did you decide to go anyway? You hate the Penhallows, you hate people in general and you hate anything that doesn't involve killing demons or avoiding people you hate".

"Maybe I've become a socialite"

"Yeah and maybe I've become an Iron Sister"

"Don't make Iron Sister jokes, you know Lucie wants to be one when she's older and if she hears you she'll forge you into a duck or something"

"Urgh ducks" they shivered in disgust at the same time. Their sisters, the twins Lucie and Ella, were much more hot-tempered than their brothers.

"I'm going because mother and father _and _our uncle and _his _vulgar girlfriend keep insisting that I go out more and befriend people my own age"

"But not grandma though, she'd never make her precious warrior do anything he didn't want to do"

"By the angel Will! You sound just like her"

"William"

"Whatever"

"Who?"

"You, Will/William"

"No who do I sound just like?" There was a long pause as Jace put the last finishing touches on his costume and avoided eye contact with his brother, "have you met someone? Like actually spoken to someone our age? Is that the real reason why you're going to the party?"

"Come on, I talk to you all the time don't I?"

"Actually it's been six days since you last spoke to me, and only because you wanted me to fasten your stupid wings!" Jace sighed, "if you must know I ran into a few Shadowhunters in the forest while I was patrolling and killing demons and being a general badass; it's unbelievable how the demons managed to get into Idris and so close to the city borders".

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone keeps letting them in"

"Like another Shadowhunter? That's ridiculous!"

"Well mundanes don't know about Idris and the Downworlder's wouldn't try something stupid so close to the Accords".

"I suppose" Will thought about this for a while, "is there anyone who's recently arrived in the city? Anyone who might have a grudge against the Clave?"

"There certainly is" came a high-pitched voice from across the room, "Horace Greenshade's sister told me at training today that the Lightwoods are in the city" Ella glided across the room with an elegance that her sister could never possess, and abruptly sat on the end of Jace's bed, "the younger Lightwoods might even be at that party tonight".

"Those traitors!" Jace shouted, "I hope they are there tonight so I can lecture them myself on their wrongdoings".

"It was _one _Lightwood. By the angel, Jace! Don't you remember Grandma's stories about the children of that traitor? They weren't bad like he was-"

"And yet something has kept that family out of Idris for a very long time. They must be behind these demon attacks and I'm going to confront them about it"

"Of course you'll look very intimidating as a sparkly angel"

"Fabulousness can be _very _intimidating". They finished getting ready in silence; Will and Jace would go to the party together but they both knew that Will would seize the first opportunity to distance himself from the golden angel starting fights with strangers about demon minions.

"Can I come?" Anne asked expectantly as they made their way towards the door.

"No" they said together, "you're too young".

"Fine; random thought but I'd just like to let you know that I heard you making fun of the Iron Sisters and will give a full report to Lucie will exaggerations and possible role-play. Have fun at the party!"


	3. Too Much Irony

"Honestly Horace it isn't _that_ hard to find a costume in the city" Aline lectured with a sigh, as Horace Greenshade walked towards them dressed in normal clothes: "let me guess; you're meant to be a pre-transformation werewolf? Like no one's tried that before".

"Actually" replied Horace, "I'm a Warlock whose mark is in a concealed location, if you'd like to assist me with showing it to you-"

"You're disgusting"; Horace laughed at the remark and ran on ahead of them to the house, "why are all boys disgusting? I don't even know why I waste my time with them" she said to Clary with an apologetic look towards Jon.

"Why am I stuck in this offensive Dracula costume when people like Horace Greenshade can get away without wearing a costume?"

"Because this is more fun" Clary answered, "if actual Downworlders invaded the party they'd mistake us for their brethren whereas those without costumes would either be killed or taken captive"

"Yes because the city is full of murderous Downworlders who love costume parties"

"Well if demons can get through-"

"Not this again!"

"Fine! Let's just get to the party".

The Penhallows' house was as beautiful as ever, and tonight was decorated with lavish banners depicting majestic faeries in flight or fully-transformed werewolves leaping through the air. Every year the Clave would frown and disapprove of Aline throwing parties with such outrageous themes like Downworlders, but when she's related to the Consul there isn't really room for complaint. _Besides _thought Jon, _they'll still go all out to make sure their darling children have more expensive costumes than anyone else's darling children. _The inside of the house was equally enthralling; guests who had arrived early were milling about between buffet tables and sound speakers with multi-coloured lights shining down on them and specially made smoke/mist swirling around their feet.

"Helen!" Aline beamed at the sight of a pale girl in a blonde wig wearing a fat suit; the girl ran (_more like waddled_) over to them and started to hug each of them, Aline the longest.

"Guess who I am!" she demanded, but with the friendly voice she used with everyone, "Okay okay never mind I'll tell you. I'm Camille Belcourt of course!" Clary and Jon gave each other a quizzical look before turning back to Helen, both of them trying not to laugh.

"Camille Belcourt isn't fat" Clary said.

"Of course she is!"

"There aren't any fat vampires. Fat vampires would be like outcasts and Camille Belcourt isn't fat; who in the world would think she's fat?!" Jon argued.

"Oh, well I'm still a vampire. Like you! We match!"

"Wonderful"

"Helen can I talk to you for a moment? You know, erm, in my _room_?" Aline asked with a suspicious look at Clary and Jon.

"Oh, sure" Helen replied with a giggle. The two girls ran eagerly towards the stairs faster than anyone in either a Seelie gown or a fat suit could ever run.

"What was all that about Clary?"

"No idea; they're probably talking about boyfriends or something".

"Do either of them have boyfriends?"

"No. Funny".

Jon and Clary tried their best to mingle with the other party guests; it was still half an hour before it officially began so there weren't many people there yet and no music was playing from the sound speakers. Amelia Crossheart was wearing a brown swimsuit with an attachable tail, high-heeled shoes and a headband with furry ears on them in an attempt to look like a sexually inviting werewolf. Cecil Wolfstorm was wearing a blue star-print Merlin robe in an attempt to pass himself off as a Warlock in front of Jocasta Trueblood (who everyone knew he was obsessed with) who was dressed as a very convincing pixie; she had even used make-up to turn her skin green. As soon as Jon saw Clary looking at Jocasta he knew what she was planning but was too late to stop it.

"Is it true?" she was asking Jocasta.

"Is what true?"

"About the Lightwoods?"

"I _knew _I shouldn't have told anyone. All I know is that they came into the city at night and were permitted by the Consul to spend a few days here; I don't know why they came or why they're being welcomed and I don't know for sure if the younger Lightwoods are coming tonight so _don't ask"._

"You're more attractive as a Downworlder Jocasta. Just something to bare in mind" Clary said before storming off towards the buffet tables "Oooo noodles!"

"We're going to be late" Will said, annoyed.

"Which means that when we do arrive our untimely arrival will be noticed by everyone and so will give them a chance to see my glorious form before I disappear into the crowd" was Jace's response to this.

The real reason they were late was that they had to escort Ella home twice after she had followed them, claiming that she didn't need a costume as she could just say she was a vampire's human subjugate. After finally getting her home twice (where she promised to tell Lucie that they'd both punched an Iron Sister in the face) they were setting off for the Penhallows' house ten minutes after it started. They couldn't walk side by side due to the fact that Jace's golden angel wings took up half the street and he said he wouldn't retract them because it made him look less majestic, so Will was walking behind already in a foul mood.

"What exactly are you going to do if (1) the Lightwoods actually show up, (2) you can identify them in the crowd and (3) they don't punch you in the face for arrogantly approaching them?"

"(1) They'll show up because they'll have heard that I'll be there and no one can resist an audience with Jace Herondale, (2) my famousness and popularity means they'll find me before I find them and (3) haven't we already discussed how intimidating the fabulous costume is? They wouldn't punch an _angel_"

"I just think you're going to start a fight that doesn't need to be started"

"That's what I do"

"Excuse me?" asked a stranger who in the midst of their argument had appeared in front of them. He was dressed like a werewolf, but underneath the furry hood it was clear that his hair was black and that his eyes were very dark. He spoke with a hint of a French accent, "could you please direct me to the Penhallows' house? I'm late for the party"

"So are we, you can come with us" Will said politely.

"Hang on" Jace argued, "what's your name werewolf? Because my brother here would never let me forget the embarrassment or irony if I arrived to a party with the same person I came to interrogate and seeing as I've never seen you in the city before that ironic situation is extremely possible".

"My apologies. I'm Sebastian; the Penhallows are relatives of mine and I arrived in Idris just an hour ago, which is why I'm a stranger to the city".

"Fair enough, let's get to this party then".

"Will it at least be civilised? My aunt Elodie said that if the party is too wild I'm to set off back to Paris immediately. She can be very protective; you'd think I'm at risk of being murdered in an alley by a psychopath the way she worries".


	4. The Party

_How do I begin to explain Alexander and Isabelle Lightwood? _

_The Lightwoods are flawless. _

_I hear her hair's insured for $10,000. _

_I hear he does archery commercials... in Japan. _

_Her favorite movie is Interview with the Vampire. _

_One time he met Magnus Bane on a plane... _

_And he told him he was pretty. _

_One time she hit me in the face with her whip ... it was awesome!_

This was how Clary pictured her conversations about the Lightwoods with the other party guests; she hoped to find out something useful, but no one seemed to know anything.

"No one knows them, Clary" said Horace regretfully, "the younger ones at least have never been to Idris and _we've _been here almost all our lives so we don't know anything, sorry". Jon could tell his sister was growing impatient, but he knew she would just have to wait and see if they actually showed up and then she could question _them _instead.

"Attention!" announced Aline from the top of the staircase, Helen stood behind her looking slightly dishevelled but giddy all the same, "may the party officially commence!" it seemed overly dramatic but it excited the guests when the music started to play. Jon couldn't help messing with the collar on his cotume, it was so uncomfortable he'd hate to be an actual vampire and be stuck wearing it for all eternity; _if I became an actual vampire I'd kill myself, or dad would kill me first _he thought, but immediately wished he hadn't.

"I'm not dancing with you Horace" Clary was saying, "and I'm not helping you look for your Warlock mark so stop asking!"

"So you're just going to stand here all night? You're not going to dance with _anyone_?"

"I bet she'd dance with the Herondale boy if he showed up" Jon muttered under his breath; thankfully he wasn't here.

"That is _not _a Downworlder costume!" Aline was shouting at the front door, "the other two can come in but you can't Herondale!"

_Herondale?_

"Of course it is. I'm a gold-tinted faerie warrior with giant wings; what did you think I was?"

"That is _not _a faerie costume; your brother's wearing a faerie costume and it looks nothing like yours"

"That's rather discriminative, implying that all faeries look the same. We faeries are a proud people and as such possess brotherly bonds with fellow faeries who are inferior in looks to ourselves. That's why I'm with Will here"

"Thanks … and it's William"

"Whatever"

"I'll let you in" Aline sighed, "but only if you can find a way to dial down the costume a bit. I know! I can't help, I'm the Seelie Queen, but my friend is dressed as a faerie and she'd be happy to help you alter your costume".

_No no no no no no no no no no no no_

"That sounds wonderful"

"Come on in then".

The three boys entered the house. The first was clearly dressed as an angel, despite his claims, and was easily identifiable as Jonathan Herondale; _just when I thought this party couldn't get any worse, next it'll be the Lightwoods knocking on the door. _The dark-haired boy in the faerie knight costume was likely his younger brother, as he was referred to as Will, and the boy dressed as a werewolf was a stranger.

"Hello" said the stranger, walking over to Jon and talking in a friendly (and slightly French) voice, "I'm Sebastian, what's your name?"

"Jonathan"

"Nice to meet you Jonathan. Your costume is incredible! It looks just like Dracula, whereas I just look like a big ball of fluff".

"No no I like your costume" _why on Earth am I being nice to this guy? _"I've never seen a more intimidating werewolf in my life"

"Well thank you; I need to go and talk to my cousin, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to at the door as she was too busy arguing with the angel boy". Sebastian was halfway across the room before Jon stopped staring, _focus; you need to keep Clary away from Herondale._

It was too late. The red-haired faerie had locked eyes with the golden angel making his way through the crowd, and abruptly ended her conversation with a guest to slowly start making her way towards him, forgetting everything and everyone else in the room. There was a blazing fire in her eyes that Jon had never seen in her before, and it was like the angel was a magnet pulling every inch of her towards him uncontrollably. The angel was equally drawn to her but holding himself in place, waiting for her to come to him. She was mere inches from him and taking a long breath, finally raising her hand to rest on his cheek.

She slapped him across the face.

"First you take all the credit for killing the Ravener demons when you were _partially _responsible for taking down _one, _then you insult me and objectify me with sexual jokes and now you come to a _Downworlder-themed _party dressed as an _angel? _What the hell is wrong with you? Do you _want _me to call your Grandma and get you in trouble?"

Some of the guests who were stood near them, and who heard and saw it all, started to laugh; apparently Herondale wasn't as popular as he thought. He didn't look bothered about the slap, but was clearly annoyed at Clary's words.

"How ironic that if I hadn't _partially _brought down that _one _Ravener demon you'd be halfway to the Silent City in box instead of shouting at me in the middle of the Penhallows' living room"

"I was doing fine on my own"

"Of course you were".

_She was doing fine on her own. She forgets that I was with her, her fighting partner ever since we were old enough to hold seraph blades. The one who killed two of those demons and praised Clary for killing four. The one who never complains that his father hates him for not being as good as his sister but yet still loves her very much and would do anything to make sure she was safe. Despite all that, she doesn't even acknowledge my presence anymore._

"You're just jealous, Herondale. You can't face the fact that a _girl _is better than you at _everything _you think you're amazing at. And guess what? I _worked hard _for everything! You've had it easy; the Inquisitor always gave you the best weapons and the best trainers and guarenteed you'd become a good Shadowhunter. But I had a normal upbringing with no guarentees but I worked at becoming good and guess what? I did it better than you did". Some might think Clary was being big-headed, but Jon knew that everything she said was true. Their father hadn't really paid attention to Clary, he was only focused on Jon becoming good. There was every chance that Clary would just end up like their mother, never really making a name for herself among the Shadowhunter community, but she changed that for herself and did it all without a grandmother in the Clave to fix it all for her.

"So you think you're better than me?"

"I know I am; I killed 4.5 of those demons"

"Care to test it? A friendly fight?"

"You'd fight a girl?"

"I'd fight a Shadowhunter who claims she's better than me"

"Fine"

"When"

"Now"

"Oh no!" exclaimed Aline from the sidelines, "no one is fighting anyone in this house"

"My my, you could cut the sexual tension in here with a seraph blade". Everyone turned towards the new voice, only to see that two people were stood near the door. Jon had never seen them before, but despite the costumes and the unfamiliarity he took in their dark hair and sinister looks and cool presence, knowing straight away who they were.

_The Lightwoods._


	5. The Lightwoods

"Well this is awkward" was Helen Blackthorn's response when realising who the newcomers were, looking uncomfortable in her fat suit.

"You do know Camille Belcourt isn't fat?" the boy who was clearly Alexander pointed out

"Yet you still knew who I was"

"Touché"

"French!" exclaimed Sebastian.

The boy, Alexander, was wearing a floor-length coat and had spiked his hair as well as applying glitter to his skin; _a warlock? _Jon thought, but wasn't 100% sure what he was supposed to be. His sister, Isabelle, had tied up her long black hair into a bun to make it look short and was wearing red robes.

"What're you two supposed to be?" Horace asked in Isabelle's direction.

"He's a warlock (don't ask) and I'm Lilith" there was a collective gasp from the guests

"And everyone criticises _me _for coming as an angel!" Jace complained.

Aline moved towards the Lightwoods and ushered them into the hall to talk, leaving the remaining guests to whisper confusedly with each other about their appearance at the party. Jon stood back and listened as the people around him engaged in a heated debate that in his mind went something like this:

Jace: "I can't believe they had the nerve to show up at the house of a respected Shadowhunter family when they're not even welcome in the _city_"

Will: "Are you just jealous because he was dressed more fabulous than you?"

Helen: "And since when were you so obedient to the Pehallows? You hate them just like you hate everyone in Alicante and beyond!"

Jace: "now now Helen you know that's not true; I live in Alicante"

Clary: "unbelievable"

Jace: "thank you"

Clary: "that wasn't a compliment"

Horace: "the girl's hot and the guy knew what Camille Belcourt looks like so he must have contacts; I say we give them a chance"

Will: "agreed"

Clary: "a chance to do what? destroy the city?"

Jocasta: "hey they're still my relatives!"

Clary: "hey _they're _still related to traitors!"

Sebastian: "would anyone like some cheese-tipped breadsticks? They're quite delicious and yet surprisingly moist-"

Jace, Clary, Horace, Will and Jocasta: "no!"

Helen: "ooo yum! Yes please".

At this point Jon swiped some of the quite delicious yet surprisingly moist cheese-tipped breadsticks and silently moved towards the hallway, where he could listen in on Aline's ongoing conversation with the Lightwoods.

"Thanks for coming" said Aline, who was stood surprisingly close to the two people she had apparently never met before, "did you find him?"

"We tracked him down to New York; Isabelle was the one who questioned him but all she could get out of him was the same ravings as last time"

"You mean the whole 'the world is a lie' thing?"

"Yeah and something about alternate dimensions? I don't know what he's been watching but he's a fan of conspiracy theories alright"

"But our contact has shown interest in him, which means there must be an element of truth to his stories. And last time he said there were more like him"

"Speaking of our contact" this was Isabelle talking now, "we've been told to warn you about the Morgensterns and the Herondales and to not let them get too close to each other; we don't know why but that's the order"

"Consider it done. Anything else?"

"We've also been told to start letting the demons as close to the demon towers as possible. You need to choose someone you trust to try and create a bypass so that the demons can actually enter the city"

"What?!"

"At the same time, the contact doesn't want anyone to actually get hurt so use your familial influence with the consul to make sure the Shadowhunters are prepared for an attack" said Alexander, "contact's exact words".

"Fine; will you stay for the party?"

"Maybe for a little while"

"Okay" Aline started to turn her back on them and walk away, but Isabelle grabbed her arm and made eye contact; a serious expression on her face.

"One last thing; the person we went seeing in New York? He had a message for Clarissa Morgenstern, but due to the security of this operation I thought I'd tell you; you're her friend and would know if it would be a compromise to tell her".

"What was the message?"

"He said 'the missing piece is the circle'"

"A circle?"

"No _the _circle; don't know what it means but he was really specific about it"

"I don't see any harm in telling her, she probably won't know what it means either".

"You're all being so offensive to fat people! Oh just because vampires are charming and beautiful and radiant means they can't be _fat_? Next you'll be saying they can't be geeky or something else that doesn't fit into your elite vampire regime! I'm going to start a support group for fat vampires and then you'll all be sorry". Helen was red in the fact with either anger or embarrassment by the time Jon had made his way back to the group.

"I'll join!" Sebastian announced eagerly.

"If you tip those breadsticks in blood you can serve them at the meetings" said Horace sarcastically whilst attempting to wrap arms around both Clary and Jocasta despite their distance from each other.

"Jon! Where've you been?" asked Clary worriedly.

"Just eavesdropping on Aline and the Lightwoods conspiring to unleash an army of demons on the city on the orders of a stereotypical mysterious villain boss whose identity won't be revealed until the plot develops"

"What?"

"I went to the bathroom"

"Oh! Why didn't you say so?" Now it was Jace's turn to start an argument by discussing the varying fabulousness ratios between angels and warlocks ("Raziel must've thought he was fabulous or he wouldn't have given the Shadowhunters a mortal mirror only to hide it from them so that he could look at himself all day long") while Clary kept her eyes on him.

_I can't just stand around and not do anything if the Lightwoods are planning something _Jon thought, but what could he do? _If I followed the Lightwoods when they left the city or travelled to New York and tracked down this person I could save everyone before anyone knew what was going on. But if I stay in the city I can warn the Clave about Aline's betrayal and I could help stop the demons when they arrived. _But he knew that ultimately at the centre of all this was Clary. If he went then he would be able to save her life along with everyone else's (he thought about asking her to go with him but knew she'd tell their parents) but if he did leave then she'd only get closer to _him._

Jon watched Clary laughing at Jace's rant, but there was a spark in her eyes much less furious then before when she slapped him. Maybe it was finding a Shadowhunter on equal footing to herself, or maybe it was just fate, but Jon knew that she was softening up to the Herondale boy (psychical violence and mid-party arguments aside). _I could come back and find out she doesn't need me anymore._

_ Not need, want. She's never needed me. It's always been me that needed her._


	6. Anti-Social

"They didn't believe me" he muttered to himself as he walked through Central Park, "if they don't believe me then why do they keep coming back?"

"Because deep down, a part of their real selves are still there and are telling them to believe you. Give it time; they'll be back".

"And if they _don't _come back?"

"Then it probably means whoever they're working for has ordered your death".

As soon as Jon arrived home from the party he'd torn off the costume and put on normal, more comfortable clothes, and started to pack. He still didn't know if leaving Idris was the right thing to do, or if he should tell anyone, or bring someone with him.

"What're you doing?" asked a deep voice from the doorway of his bedroom.

"Dad?"

"Who else?" Valentine came in and sat on the edge of the bed, smiling but keeping a small amound of distance from his son. Jon wondered how he felt, looking at someone who looked so much like him but who was a disappointment to the Clave and the Shadowhunters. "I know what you're thinking" he now said.

"What?"

"You think I'm disappointed in you".

"How-" Valentine laughed.

"You're giving me scornful looks and packing up all your things, suggesting that you're running away from home. Also your mother said that you think I'm disappointed in you" now they both laughed.

"But aren't you? Clary's better at everything than me and you always used to spend time training me so I'd be good; now you've just given up"

"Did it never occur to you that, rather than having given up, I'd simply come to the conclusion that you'd gotten good enough to train on your own? Your sister is the most prodigal Shadowhunter of your generation-"

"Thanks for reminding me"

"-and she chose _you _to be her fighting partner. You need to learn to believe in yourself more because that's what's holding you back; Clarissa needs you more than you think she does"

"How can I believe in myself when no one else does?"

"Clary believes in you, your mother believes in you, and I believe in you. You're right, you may not be the best Shadowhunter that's ever existed, but I'm proud of you because you're my son. I've always loved you, and I always will, no matter what happens to you I'll always be your father, and you'll always be my son".

"Why what's going to happen to me?"

"Well you're going on an adventure, aren't you? Your friends told me".

"I have no friends"

"Well all I know is that some young Shadowhunters are on their way here with suitcases, saying that you're all going somewhere together"

"But-"

"I won't tell your mother, or Clarassia, until it's too late for them to stop you". He grinned and threw his arms around Jon, hugging him in a way he'd never done before; _I don't remember him ever hugging me before._

"Now if you're off to save the world, then save it and come back safe. If you're off to Vegas, don't get married".

"So let me get this straight; Aline told you about some ilicit conversation she had with the Lightwoods, you had a fight, realised that Jon probably heard Aline's conversation and now you've rallied us all together to stalk him until he lets us join him on this epic quest?"

"We didn't have a fight, it was merely a misunderstanding"

"But the rest of it's right?"

"Pretty much". Helen and Horace were the only two people talking; the others had joined them obediently without much protest, probably because living in Alicante meant that opportunities for 'epic quests' as Horace put it were rare, and usually fulfilled by prodigical Shadowhunters like Clary and Jace.

Helen, Horace, Sebastian (who was slightly reluctant to abondon the cheesesticks but still eager to follow suit) and Jocasta (who would take any chance to get away from Clary) were now running towards the Morgenstern house in the hopes of catching Jon before he left without them.

"I still can't believe you told Valentine" said Jocasta, talking for the first time since meeting up with the others outside the Penhallows' house.

"He saw us conspiring together! Besides he said he'd convince Jon to let us go with him; he's always been such a loyal man I couldn't help but trust him" Helen replied defensively.

The cobbled streets of the city were lit up only by the moonlight; the area was abandoned and a nighttime mist was setting in around their feet. Rather than gear, the Shadowhunters had chosen simple clothes to avoid suspicion once they were outside the city that they'd spent all their lives in, but had effectively hidden a series of weapons within their clothes and suitcases.

"You look more like a group of holiday tourists than fierce warriors" spoke a boy in the shadows; he too was pulling a suitcase along beside him.

"Will?" asked Sebastian

"Yeah it's me. Don't worry I didn't tell my brother where I was going (he probably still thinks I'm at the party) but I overheard what you guys were saying and thought you might need an extra team member?"

"I'm not entirely convinced" said Helen, "but you're reference to our little group as a 'team' has swung the deal in my opinion. How can we say no to him when he shows such enthusiasm?" She was smiling, but not everyone else seemed satisfied. "I vote to let him join"

"Me too!" exclaimed Sebastian.

"How do we know we can trust him? He could've told his brother and is just pretending and then we'll get caught trying to leave the city": Jocasta.

"I didn't tell him; you overestimate my relationship with him. I've probably had longer conversations with Sebastian than Jace and I only met him today"

"Does this mean we're friends?": Sebastian, sounding hopeful.

"Errrrr sure?"

"Yay! Please let him join us? No one ever wants to be my friend back home. They all think I'm weird".

"Can't imagine why" Horace muttered under his breath, "it's fine by me; no point arguing about it when we've got to move fast". Jocasta sighed: "agreed".

"Alright then" beamed Helen, "I guess it's time we convinced a relatively anti-social teen Shadowhunter to travel halfway across the world with five people he's only ever spoken two words to and who he has no reason whatsoever to trust".

"Maybe there's a rune in the Gray Book to expell annoyance and social awkwardness from a person" suggested Jocasta sarcastically.

"Hopefully; then we can use it on you" someone replied; she didn't see who it was but she suspected Horace, who was smiling to himself.

"You don't actually think they'll kill me, do you?"

"Chances are the Lightwoods, whether they no it or not, are working for the person or people who did this to us; the whole alternate reality your ravings to them were about? They're boss probably caused it for a reason. So if there was someone, anyone, who knew the truth what would you do?"

"Send someone to find out what they know and then-"

"-have them executed". There was a long pause of silence between them; people milled about amongst the trees of the park but no one seemed to be paying them much attention. It was a long time before either of them spoke, and even then his voice was strained.

"Do you think they passed on my message?"

"For all our sakes; yes".


	7. Another Father

_I slapped him._

_ I've hit him before._

_ I know I have._

_ But when?_

Clary was stood on her own outside the Penhallows' house; all of her usual friends had disappeared, even Jon, so she had no one to talk to. Then she'd seen him, crossing the street opposite the house, carrying his detatchable wings in his hands. Even his physical appearance was a mystery to her; his hair looked brown, like his mother Amatis', but underneath she caught a glint a gold which she didn't think was part of the costume. His eyes were the same, one colour one minute and a different one the next, as if someone completely different was hiding under the skin of the boy on the outside. She hadn't even realised she was following him until she nearly walked into Aline's mother, probably coming home from the Gard, looking tired by satisfied that another day was nearly over.

"Sorry Clarissa; nearly walked into you there"

"It was my fault. Goodnight"

"Goodnight".

She was worried that she'd lost him amongst the many streets of the city before she finally tracked him down, stood in the square near his house.

"Why don't you go talk to him?" asked a man who had crept up beside her; a man she was glad to see but at the same time annoyed at for catching her so vulnerable.

"Why don't you go home to your girlfriend? She's probably having a fit filling her heard with conspiracy theories about how something terrible must've happened to you for leaving her for a few minutes"

"You've summed up our relationship quite well there" Lucian said. Being best friends with both of her parents meant Lucian and Clary had been around each other for as long as she could remember, and for just as long he'd been suffering in his complicated relationship with Celine Montclaire. Apparently her father introduced them to each other, and at first they were very much in love (and even engaged to be married) but things took a turn for the worst. Celine was too paranoid and made it difficult for Lucian to have a normal life, so they broke up for a while. They'd been back together for just over a year but marriage was definitely off the table.

"He's so annoying" Clary now said, indicating towards where Jace was stood, "and every time I talk to him I want to murder him"

"Buuuuuut?"

"But there's something there. Have you ever met someone and thought- no- knew that every thought or feeling you had for them was a thought or feeling you'd had before? He just seems so wrong, like a part of me hates him because, let's face it, he's the most annoying and arrogant person I've ever met. But there's another part of me that makes me feel … not myself".

"What do you mean, not yourself?"

"It's like being a Shadowhunter, and being the best that I can be at it, has been my whole life. But when I look at him or argue with him or slap him across the face it's like I'm _not _a Shadowhunter, I'm just a person"

"And what's wrong with being just a person?"

"Nothing; that's why I keep following him, and getting into arguments with him". Lucian laughed at this, a long laugh that made Clary feel warm inside to hear.

"I envy you, Clary. You're biggest dilemma is worrying about whether or not you're falling for someone who, if you actually talked to in a civilised manner, might turn out to be a genuinely nice person"

"Why? What dilemmas have _you _got? Other than the paranoid non-wife?" He looked at her with sad and worried eyes, sighing and heaving his shoulders in defeat.

"I'm- I'm going to be a father"

"What?!"

"Celine's pregnant. She's over the moon about it but that's because she's acting like we'll be a nice happy family. How're we going to raise a child together if we can't even have a stable relationship?"

"You're not happy?"

"I'm happy about have a baby! You know I've always wanted to be a father; that's why I spent so much time with you and Jon when you were kids. This is what I've always wanted; I just wish it was under different circumstances".

"You're right; it's not going to be easy to raise a child in those circumstances, but a challenge like this is just the way to prove what an amazing father I know you'll be. Congratulations". They both had tears in their eyes as they hugged; like a father and daughter, like two best friends, they both knew just what to say to make the other feel better.

"Now go talk to my nephew" Lucian urged with a grin, just before walking off back the way he same.

He was now sat on the floor in the square, the wings of his costume draped across his legs, fidgiting with a stone he'd picked up off the floor. Her heart was beating faster as she walked closer and closer to him, terrified at saying to Lucian aloud everything she had thought the first time she spoke to Jace in the forest, and again at the party. She'd learned from her father to embrace her emotions but at the same time hide them from those she couldn't trust so that they couldn't use her love to destroy her. Now she took in what her other father (_I've never really thought of Lucian as a father before_) had said, that she had to give Jace a chance to prove to her that he was worthy of her emotions, and maybe then she could finally embrace them.

"Hi" he said, shocking her by turning around to face her before she had a chance to speak first, "I could hear your breathing; were you intimidated by my presence?"

"Fabulousness can be _very _intimidating" he actually smiled at this. It was the first time she'd seen him smile genuinely; not because he was pleased with himself or being sarcastic, but because he was actually happy to be in this company of the same girl who slapped him only a few hours ago.

"So … I'm not sure Jon's all that into the intensive Shadowhunter training anymore; I might need someone to patrol with during the day but it's got to be someone who can keep up with an expert"

"I'd love to help" he replied, "but I too need someone who can keep up with _me _and I'm not sure you're up for it"

"You're hilarious" she said flatly, but smiling all the same.

"Tell you what. I'll let you tag along with me tomorrow and I'll assess your performance to see if you're worthy of a trial run as my fighting partner"

"I'm so honoured; my mother will be so proud" sarcasm aside, they couldn't keep their eyes off each other or their smiles off their faces; _Lucian was right, I just need to give him a chance._ It was going so well until a brown-haired woman came running towards them from across the square; worry on her face and anger in her eyes.

"Mother?" Jace asked

"William's gone!" Amatis screamed, "him and a group of young Shadowhunters were just seen at the border to the city with suitcases and _weapons!_ They're leaving the city!" Jace looked genuinely scared.

"Why?"

"No one knows; the parents of the children who were spotted have been notified and are running around it a panic. But the worst part is that the _Lightwoods _are saying their children have disappeared too!"

"And they weren't with the others?"

"No!"

"I'm sorry Clary" he said in her direction, "I'm going to have to go and see what's going on"

"Actually, you might want to bring her along; Jonathan Morgenstern is also one of the missing Shadowhunters and they think he was leading the group".


	8. Aline's Sacrifice

"Tell me again why I agreed to bring you along with me?" asked Jon, panting with the effort of running despite the fact no one was chasing them. The streets were eerily quiet, but it was still very likely that someone would spot them and raise the alarm for trying to leave the city undetected.

"Because the Avengers are better than Spiderman; why? Because they're a team that work together and get stuff done"

"You're such a geek, Greenshade"

"You're such a bitch, Trueblood"

"I was joking!"

"Errrrrrr so was I?"

Jon stopped abruptly at the corner of the street which was following by the square leading to the north exit, causing everyone else in the line to crash into the person in front of them like dominos. "Why did we stop?"

"Because if we go out there without being cautious we'll get caught by Shadowhunters on patrol and then we'll all be sent home and I'll be shunned by my family for starting all this and put on trial before the Clave and found guilty of Raziel knows what crimes and I'll be exiled and forced to spend the rest of my life selling my blood to vampires to buy food until I eventually die and end up half-eaten by an army of cats!"

"Don't be silly Jon" offered Sebastian cheerily, "you can come live with me if that happens!"

"As you can see, Horace, my options aren't good"

"Stop being so whiny and just get on with it" Jocasta urged, storming stealthy across the square before any of them could stop her.

Helen didn't like lying to them all, especially when they were about to go on a potentially dangerous journey together that was nothing like anything any of them had ever done before. But she had her reasons; admitting the real reasons why she was doing this were too much for her to say out loud.

Aline had come straight to her after her conversation with the Lightwoods, clearly worried and upset about something that Helen couldn't put down to something ordinary; "I need to talk you about something. Something important" she had said. They'd got upstairs together to Aline's bedroom and sat on the bed, Helen terrified the whole time about what they needed to talk about.

"You know I trust you, more than anyone?"

"Of course"

"I need to ask a favour, but I want you to listen to everything I have to say first"

"Okay"

"About a year ago now, near the time when we first became _good friends, _I was visited by someone. I don't know who he was but he said that the person he worked for needed my help; I was put in contact with Alexander and Isabelle Lightwood, who have their own reasons for being a part of all this, and needed to give them anything they asked for from my mother's Clave files"

"Aline! How could you?"

"Hear me out. The files they wanted came from a special vault that _no one _ever goes into, but when by bypassed the protection runes on it and found out some ... stuff"

"What stuff?"

"It was almost like a story. A story about us and our families and everyone we know but ... different; it was us but we were completely different people and the world was a much more horrible place, especially for the Shadowhunters. The rest of the files were the same sort of thing but about our actual lives, and the Lightwoods used it to track someone down in America"

"Who?"

"I don't know his name. Every time they go to see him he acts like he knows them (one of them in particular) and seems to believe that the story, the one where our lives are all different, is the truth"

"But it's not? It's not the truth?"

"Of course not; how can it be? We know what's real about our lives, he's probably just crazy. Although, however gives us our orders keeps asking me to find out where he is by handing over new files and the Lightwoods keep having to go back to question him again. His latest message was something about the missing piece being the circle; does that mean anything to you?"

"_Eight_"

"What?"

"What?"

"You just said eight in an eerie, foreshadowing voice"

"I swear I didn't, Aline"

"Whatever. I sort of remember something about it being mentioned in those notes but I never got a full read of them and now they've been handed over. My latest mission is to help the Lightwoods release demons in the city"

"You can't do that!"

"I need you to do it"

"No"

"Please! I can show you how to bypass the protection runes but I don't trust anyone else to help me do this. If I don't fulfil the contact's orders, if I fail to do what he says, you'll-"

"I'll what?"

"-die". The silence stretched out past the length and width of the room until nothing could be heard but the beginning of Aline's pained sobs, and Helen's deep breathing at the knowledge of this betrayal. "They're always watching you; the first time that stranger visited me he said that the person he worked for would have you killed if I didn't cooperate. That's what they do! They go after the person you love most!"

"What?"

"They go after the person you love-" Helen didn't care about what Aline had done anymore; she flung her arms around her dainty neck and merged their lips together in a kiss like no other. No boy had ever made her feel the way she did with Aline; she was brought up to think it was wrong to feel this way for another girl, and everyone used to say opposites attract, but they were wrong. It was everything about herself that she saw in Aline, and everything Aline portrayed better, that had brought out a love in her stronger than any words of disgust she could expect to here; her emotions were like an _adamas_ shield, protecting them from any demonic prejudices that tried to tear them apart.

"You- you love me?"

"Of course I do!"

"I love you too!"

"Well then please do me a favour-"

"I- I still c-can't do something like bring demons into the city"

"I know, I shouldn't have asked I'm sorry. But do me the favour of getting as far away from the city as you can. Go into hiding or find a way to fix these problems because I need you in my life, always, and if you go away it'll break me but at least I can put the pieces back together; I couldn't do that if you were killed".

"I'll go; I can find a way to fix this, more both of us _and _for everyone else" they both laughed, but soon after Aline grew serious again.

"Jon overheard my conversation with the Lightwoods today. Find him, maybe he wants to go and find whoever the Lightwoods have been interviewing in America, heck go with Horace Greenshade if it'll at least mean you're safe!"

"I could easily get others to come with me, if I had the right excuse"

"Then go, please"

"I will". They hadn't broken physical contact the whole time since their kiss; Helen wished it wasn't the last time she would ever kiss Aline, especially now that she knew how symmetrical their feelings for each other were.

"Helen, come on!" someone was shouting, it sounded to Helen like Will. She had been daydreaming about her last conversation with Aline so much that she hadn't realised the others had already crossed the square and indicating that she follow them. "The patrol team will turn around _any second_"

"I'm coming I'm coming!" she stole one last look at the city she called home, peering over the tops of the buildings until she could just see the tip of the Penhallow's house. _If I don't come back, find someone else who'll be proud to fall in love with you, despite convention _she thought, hoping that she would come back and resume that role instead.

The group were just outside the city when the first cry of alarm from the patrol team could be heard.


	9. The Voice of Reason

"Thank you, all, for journeying here tonight; I have important news to bestow". The figure stayed in the shadows, as they always did now, addressing the crowd with a voice of confidence and arrogance. "I have received intelligence from this man, here", at this point someone is ushered through the crowd and placed in front of the dais, the speaker's long finger pointed right at him.

"What's _his _kind doing here?" someone bellows incredulously.

"Do not interrupt me! He is here because I asked him to be. This man may not be welcome here usually, but he is clever and has kept track of our Shadowhunter associates, as well as the mundane ones

"He has told me that a group of young Nephilim have left their sacred city and are travelling here, to America, as well speak. They search the truth, the truth I have so far kept well hidden"

"What do they hope to achieve?" asks another member of the crowd

"It is not known. Without knowing of us, and me in particular, they have no way of reversing what we have done even if they do learn the truth. They will probably attempt to track down some of the _eight, _and so we must stop them".

"How?"

"They have only just left Alicante; we need them to leave Idris before we can truly strike. Travel to our underground dungeons, as many as you can reach in time, and dispatch our vampire prisoners to follow their path". Those in the crowd begin to talk amongst themselves, but their leader is satisfied that they will do as they have been commanded. The man starts to move closer to the dais, hesitant at first but at the same time steely as usual.

"You may have changed them, but deep down they're the same people that they were before and those people? Their job every day was to put a stop to the likes of you".

"After all this time, have you finally gone soft on them?"

"You don't realise how human you had become until the thing that made you that way is taken from you"

"You can't help them, you know."

"You promised that-"

"It looks like that newfound humanity made you forget something; that my promises are worth less than your kind. They may have relied on you before I changed this world, but in this reality you're worthless. That's why they call you Bane; you're a hindrance to even those you wish to help. Take him to the dungeons". The man, or prisoners, flashes his unique eyes angrily at the villain on the dais before being dragged away and locked into eternal darkness.

"This is an absolute outrage. That Morgenstern worm and his band of scantily clad provocateurs and armed hooligans have kidnapped my poor grandson and whisked him off to the dangers that lie beyond this city!" screamed the Inquisitor, who had barged in on the impromptu meeting uninvited and at the melancholy of all the others in attendance. The meeting consisted of Jia Penhallow (leading the discussion as a representative of the Clave), Valentine and Jocelyn, Stephen and Amatis, the Blackthorns, the Truebloods, the Greenshades and Robert and Maryse Lightwood, whose presence had gotten the meeting off to an uncomfortable start. Sebastian's aunt had already been informed, and would make her way to the city in the morning, and outside the door with their conspiratorial ears pressed against it were Clary, Jace, Luke and Aline.

"Imogen, thank you for joining us. If you'd like there's a selection of tea or coffee on the table over there" said Jia calmly.

"We were actually just discussing how this escape plan wasn't entirely concocted by Jonathan" interjected Jocelyn, eyes turned furiously towards the Inquisitor, "in fact, given Jace Herondale's rebellious nature and disregard and wouldn't be surprised if his brother was behind all this!"

"Don't blame this on William!" Amatis contributed, "your husband himself said that it was that insolent fae child of the Blackthorns who they were all following"

"My Horace would never do anything like this of his own accord"

"Oh please I caught him trying to grope my Jocasta TWICE last week!"

"Helen is a _good _child-"

"Jonathan would never go anywhere without his sister-"

"These cheese-tipped breadsticks are _marvellous _Jia! Did you make them yourse-"

"No one's blaming the Lightwoods-"

"No one's blaming Verlac-"

"Enough!" all eyes turned towards Stephen Herondale, who was stood rigid and glaring at each of them in turn. "It doesn't matter _who _orchestrated this; it matters that we return them home safely"

"He's right" there was a collective gasp as one of the Lightwoods, Maryse, spoke for the first time. "We shouldn't be placing blame, but maybe we shouldn't go after them either. There's obviously a reason why they've done this; you're all quick to defend your childrens' honour and loyalty to the Clave, so surely if they've left it means there's a problem that they need to sort out, something that might be saving lives?"

"Don't be so ridiculous" argued Imogen, "they're all practically children-"

"But aren't they also Nephilim? Because of your idiotic belief system and world record at holding grudges we, and our children, were never given a chance to prove themselves. All a Shadowhunter ever wants to do is prove to their superiors that the Angel chose wisely when he bestowed this duty on them. I'm not just saying this for my own children, but for all of those who've gone missing today; let them save the world, and maybe then they can be accepted in the society that is their _birthright _to be apart of".

Everyone looked at the Lightwoods in silence; some glared with disgust but the majority had a newfound respect and admiration in their eyes; they worshipped their children and yet were too protective to let them show they truly belonged. Didn't they al have to do something heroic in order to gain favour with the Clave? Now it was their childrens' turn.

"All agreed?" asked Jia quietly.

Everyone nodded.

Except the Inquisitor.

"Well then you can all welcome them into your society gladly when their corpses are brought back to be interred by the Silent Brothers".

"Can we please stop running for a few minutes?" Horace panted.

"We're just about to cross into Switzerland; once we're in the mundane world we can find somewhere to rest until morning" was Jocasta's logical solution. They had been running for a long time, only ever taking power breaks to make sure none of them collapsed but also so that they didn't dwell in one place long enough for someone to find them.

"How are we going to get to New York?" asked Sebastian, acting deeply serious for the first time all day.

"And how are we going to find this person we're supposed to be looking for?" added Will.

"I don't know about getting to America"; Helen, "but I have a feeling that the number eight is somehow going to help us find our New York friend. Don't ask; it's just a hunch". They walked the rest of the way in silence, each of them taking a huge sigh of relief when finally stepping across the border and leaving Idris behind.

_"Now"_ a voice hissed from the trees, and before any of them knew what was happening they were being ambushed by shadowed figures moving through the forest at lightning speed.

"What's going on?" asked Will.

"Who are you?" asked Jon.

"Poor baby Shadowhunters who haven't been outside their precious city before. We are called _vampires_" the leader sneered sarcastically, "my name is Raphael, and now you will die".


	10. Team Good

Jon had prepared himself just in time to defend against Raphael's first attack. Some of the others weren't so lucky, having to enduring the stinging scratches of the vampires whilst fumbling with weapons. Will had dispatched two of the pawns in seconds, Helen two more, but their leader was focused entirely on Jon.

"I'm claiming you as my own kill, Shadowhunter. I can sense the demon in you; it's hidden under many layers but it's never left; something about that makes you all the more bite-worthy". He lunged a second time, thrusting Jon's arms behind his back and exposing his neck, but Jon swung him around and threw him into two female vampires attempting to charge at Jocasta and Horace. It was necessary, as they were already preoccupied with at least six vampires of their own to deal with; standing back to back they shielding themselves with swords and attacked simultaneously.

Sebastian was moving like lightning, gliding across the ground like a snake and slashing at Downworlder limbs whilst using some form of throwing stars to kill those at a distance almost instantly. He was taking down more than five opponents every ten seconds, but survived only because Jon took care of the creatures attempting to attack him from behind. Will's knives flew through the air even faster than Sebastian; taking out the vampires unawares and pinning others to nearby tree trunks. His fantastic aim took up a lot of his concentration, so Helen was stood inches from him, sword in hand, and was killing any vampire who came anywhere near them.

"Horace!" Jon shouted across the clearing, "help Will and Sebastian climb into the trees. Station them at opposite ends; both of you use ranged weapons to take out anyone who sneaks up on the others". The three boys were in motion immediately, following Jon's orders like they were soldiers and he a commander. "Helen, Jocasta, stick together and run for the perimeter. Work your way through the ones closing us in; go clockwise but change direction if too many come up from behind for the others to take out"

"Got it" they both said before running out to the vampires standing sentry. Horace was back at Jon's side, awaiting orders now that Will and Sebastian were safely in position. "We'll take on the leader, Raphael. He's wants to kill me personally but when he emerges he'll bring backup to take care of you. If we combine forces we can take them head-on but it'll be tricky"

"Has anyone ever told you you're actually badass?"

"That's the spirit". Just then, as if on cue, Raphael emerged from out of nowhere with four clearly powerful vampires; two men, two women; who all had murder and hatred in their demonic eyes.

"Leave that one to me" he hissed whilst pointing at Jon, "the rest of you can have the other one". They sprinted towards them but were soon one member short as he ran straight into Horace's sword.

"Yeah bitch! Maybe next time you'll-" but he couldn't finish his victory speech, as two more lunged over their comrade's body and pinned him to the floor.

"One moment" Jon said politely in Raphael's direction, and was met with an eye-roll. He jumped on the back of the biggest vampire and rode him round in circles until he collapsed to the floor. Horace's response, whilst wrestling with the other, was "I don't remember them teaching us the piggy-back manoeuvre in training"

"It learnt it the hard way from Clary was I was eight and she was seven, Raziel knows where she learnt it from". Jon stabbed the collapsed vampire while Horace wrestled the other to the ground and savagely beheaded with his sword. Now it was just Raphael and the other female vampire to take care of.

Jocasta had been hit several times, but was still standing thanks to Helen's support as a fighting partner. Some of the vampires had located Will and Sebastian's positions in the trees and had started to climb them. Sebastian had been dragged down to ground level but was unharmed, fighting off the vampires like he had done before, whereas Will had defended his position and was able to continue throwing knives from a distance.

Raphael's companion had foolishly tried to charge Jon and Horace head-on, when they had their weapons raised and were fully prepared to retaliate. She had managed to get painful hits on both of them but was dispatched much easier than expected.

"Close in!" Raphael ordered at the top of his voice. The vampires forming the perimeter of the battle responded by moving forward, slowly pushing the Shadowhunters into the centre. Sebastian and the girls were now back-to-back with Jon and Horace; weapons held high but with the hope draining quickly from their faces.

"There's too many of them" Jocasta said, looking more dismayed and worse off than any of them. Raphael was preparing to signal the final attack, when a voice was reverberating out of the tallest tree "Have a little faith!"

Will suddenly slid down a nearby branch and dove straight onto the army of vampires; simultaneously startling them all and bringing a good number of them to the ground. The others used the distraction to their advantage and began thrusting swords and knives and throwing stars into their opponents, lowering their numbers more swiftly than ever. Jocasta was beheading two in a second, Helen and Sebastian were piercing hearts in unison, Horace was impaling stomachs and Jon was slicing at the more stronger vampires (Raphael included) whilst Will jumped from body to body cutting throats and stabbing at necks.

"Who are you?!" one of the vampires asked indignantly.

"We're the new Avengers" said Horace

"the Shadowhunter Elite" suggested Helen

"Team Good" offered Jon. They all looked at their leader with wicked knowing smiles before turning back to Raphael, "yeah" they all said, "Team Good".

The survived vampires surrendered and ran off into the trees, even Raphael, and eventually disappeared from sight.

"Woo!" screamed Horace, Sebastian and Jocasta together.

"Don't woo; this is bad"

"What's wrong, Helen?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Helen pointed at the sky, where the sun had risen at some point during their epic battle with the vampires, "how were they able to survive the sunlight? They mustn't have been any ordinary vampires".

"What are you suggesting?" asked Jon.

"I'm _suggesting _that they were very powerful vampires, and therefore must work for someone even more powerful. Perhaps they even work for whoever's behind this whole thing".

The clearing was empty by the time Alexander and Isabelle reached it. They had needed to stop halfway through the night to rest, knowing full well that the others would probably wait to rest until morning and get a head start, but they had needed it.

"What will we do when we catch up to them?" Isabelle asked her brother.

"We'll kill them" he answered; face expressionless.

"We can't do that, Alec. They're innocent-"

"If we don't obey the contact then it'll be _him _they punish. What would our parents say if we had to go back and tell them he was _dead _because of us? What we're doing isn't good, I'll give you that, but I'd kill those Shadowhunters in a heartbeat if it meant his safe return".

They walked through the forest in silence.

"What do you mean you _ran off_? Have you any idea what this does to our plans, Santiago? You have just jeopardised everything we have been working for!"

"Everything _you've _been working for, you mean. We're just your prisoners who you use as pawns in your stupid games!"

"Silence! Take him back to the dungeons where he belongs! And come back with Bane, I need to take my anger out on someone. Oh, and bring Maxwell too, we can't have his dear brother and sister thinking he's safe, can we? Otherwise they might stop trying so hard to get him back".


	11. Recluse

"This is ridiculous" Clary was saying indignantly, "they're just going to _leave _them to it? They're supposed to protect their people and instead they're just going to sit back and wait for their children to be killed?"

She was in the Herondale's house, where Jace and his sisters were listening to her stresses. Lucian was inside, trying to reason with his sister and brother-in-law over the decision they made in the meeting yesterday.

"What makes you think they'll be killed?" Jace asked, "you're the one whose always saying your brother's more competent than he's given credit for. _My _brother can certainly look after himself, and the others have extensive Shadowhunter training".

"But it's not the same-"

"Why? Because the most prodigal Shadowhunter of our generation hasn't gone with them to kill all the big bad demons that get in their way?"

This annoyed Clary more than she dared to admit, but before she could argue back one of Jace's sisters, Lucie, interrupted.

"If you're that bothered then why use Uncle Lucian to bargain with the adults? The ones who clearly don't want to help? You need to go after them yourself … and bring us with you!"

"That's not a bad id-"

"No" Jace said with finality, "it was hard enough for them to get out of the city; now they'll have increased the patrols to ensure no one else has the same idea. Also, you two aren't going anywhere"; he looked pointedly at his sisters.

"Fine then; why don't you two go after them while me and Lucie keep an eye on Aline for you" Ella suggested.

"Why would you need to keep an eye on Aline?"

"Duh. She was talking conspiratorially with the Lightwoods, you said yourself that Jon must've been telling the truth instead of joking, and that'll have something to do with this mission they've assigned themselves. Why didn't Aline go? Because the evil villain has a job for her to do here"

"That's-" Jace was lost for words, "clever. But we don't know if there is an evil villain and we don't know that Aline's bad, not really"

"You're just defending her because she's your ex" Lucie argued.

"What?!" Clary had never heard this before.

"We kissed _once _and all she said was 'thanks; that explains a lot'; it was ages ago, just before when she became friends with Helen Blackthorn".

"Still" said Lucie; "Clary's her friend, so neither of you would be seriously suspicious of her. If you're going after the others then we'll watch Aline and make sure she doesn't try anything".

"Unfortunately" replied Lucian, who had come out of the house's front door without them realising, "it's not going to be easy to leave Alicante now".

"I said that"

"Stephen says that there's going to be a permanent guard (twice the size of the usual patrols) stationed at every entrance to the city. They've also enlisted help from some of the neighbouring Downworlder groups that live on the outskirts of Idris, so if anyone does manage to get out of the city they'll be escorted back if found by the vampires, werewolves or odd warlock".

"Great"

"Which means it'll be even more impressive when we get you out of here" said Amatis, coming up behind her brother. Clary and the Herondales looked at her in shock, and Lucian had a satisfied smile on his face. "Me and your father have complete faith in William, and the others for that matter but we have no idea what sort of danger they've all gotten themselves into. Come, we've got a lot of planning to do".

They followed her into the house.

It was nearly dark by the time Aline reached the meeting place. She'd sent a message earlier in the day, asking him to come to the back of the Accords Hall (which was always empty at this time) and make sure she wasn't followed. She was told to ask someone she trusted to carry out this task, but Helen had had to leave before she was taken and Clary would never agree to something like this. Aline trusted no one else, so the next best thing was to ask someone who was desperate.

He was a recluse; he very rarely appeared in public and when he did it was met with sneers and disgust from the other citizens of Alicante. He wasn't much better. He hated his own people and had lived on the edge of the city's borders for as long as anyone could remember. He'd clearly done something terrible to be exiled (whether voluntarily or not) like that, but he was the only person left who was likely to help her with this task.

She looked around, hoping he would come but at the same time terrified of seeing him. She kept reminding herself that it would make Helen safe (not to mention the reasons that she hadn't told Helen) and this made her stronger and more determined to meet the man whose house they'd dared each other to knock on the door of when they were children.

"Aline Penhallow" someone whispered from the shadows. It was him, she knew it immediately, and turned around to face his figure in the darkness.

"Mr Starkweather"

"Ah I was wondering if you had any idea who you were dealing with. I assumed you must've underestimated who the recipient of your message was. I am not someone who likes to be dragged into the city by a young Shadowhunter of the brink of evening".

"I need your help". He laughed.

"Why would I help you?"

"Because you'll benefit from it more than anyone". This seemed to get his attention, and he finally stepped out of the shadows. His greying hair was covered in the hood of a long, dark cloak that looked black in the faded light of the evening sun. He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at her expectantly.

"Go on"

"I know about you. You live on the outskirts of the city but are constantly watched. You're never allowed to leave, except I don't know why. You're trapped in Alicante but all you want is to just be able to leave for once. What do you know of the demon towers?"

"Everything. Including how to disable them" he smiled to himself.

"What if you were to do just that? And once the demons are in the city everyone will be distracted with fighting them. No one will notice the recluse missing from his house, and no one will be able to stop you from leaving".

He seemed to think about this silently for a while; "what do you get out of this?" he asked finally.

"The safety of someone I love very much" she hesitated; _I'll need to tell him the whole truth if I want him to trust me, _"and an antidote".

"An antidote?"

"The person I'm working for had me poisoned with something demonic; every time I carry out a task successfully they send me drungs to hold it off for a bit longer. Once they finally have what they want they've promised to cure it completely. But my life isn't important; I'm going this for someone whose life is in a danger if I don't obey".

"I'll do it, but on two conditions". Aline leaned forward to listen to his demands, "(1) help me find someone I've been looking for for a very long time, and (2) ensure that one of the demons I let in kills Valentine Morgenstern".


	12. Burger King Battle

"Have you heard anything?"

"A group of Nephilim, including the Lightwoods, have disappeared from Idris. The only trail they left behind was blood from the wounds they got during a vampire ambush, but they're all still alive".

"Do you think they're coming back to question me again? The Lightwoods?"

"I don't think they're travelling with the others. My guess is they're tracking them down to kill them; after that they'll probably come for us"

"If that happens then you'll need to run; get a message-"

"No. We're both of the _eight_, which means we must stick together".

"Who knew that Swiss airports have Burger Kings? This is _amazing!_" everyone thought Sebastian was, yet again, being overly enthusiastic, but it was growing on them now. It hadn't been easy bribing the faeries on the street to glamour their weapons, but they needed to get a plane to New York and it was the only way to avoid questions about why their hand luggage consisted of seraph blades and various other weapons.

"How long before our plane boards?" asked Will.

"Half an hour; it'll take time to get to New York but it's the fastest way after portals" Jocasta answered. None of them had ever been on a plane before; Shadowhunters had never needed them, at least not those who were barely adults.

"We should expect an ambush when we arrive; if Helen's right, and that vampire attack was a message from someone higher up, there'll probably be more along the way" said Jon; they'd all more-or-less recovered from their injuries, but still considered themselves lucky for surviving the first of many hurdles on their journey.

"Well if this plane ride is going to take a while I'm going to need a good book to read" Will announced, "I've always wanted to read _A Tale of Two Cities, _I'll go see if they have an English copy in the bookshop".

"Ooo I'll come too": Helen, "they might have _Tipping the Velvet_". Will gave her a suspicious look but shrugged his shoulders and walked away from the others with her.

Jon scanned their surroundings; they may have been in an airport Burger King but that didn't mean they were safe. No one seemed to be acting suspiciously, and as much as he concentrated no demons or Downworlders were being shielding by glamour, but he felt paranoid that someone was watching them. It was Horace who noticed them; two black-clad figures with equally dark hair, a male and a female, watching them from inside a nearby shop. Whether it was his bright blue eyes, or the electrum whip coiled around her wrist, it didn't matter; what mattered was that they were clearly there to stop them.

"The Lightwoods" Jocasta whispered worriedly after seeing where Horace was looking. Jon and Sebastian following his gaze now as well, and we just as anxious from what they saw.

"What do we do?" Sebastian asked.

"You and Horace go to the bathroom" Jon said, looking straight at Sebastian, "don't look at the Lightwoods when you go, just go and try and keep an eye out without revealing yourselves. They won't attack us as a full group, which means they'll either go to the bathroom to get you or they'll come for me and Jocasta; either way we'll be able to deal with them. Whichever pair they attack, the other needs to send one person to join the fight and the other to get Will and Helen". They all nodded in agreement, and the Horace and Sebastian got up from their chairs and walked casually towards the bathroom. Jon thought Jocasta was doing a brilliant job of nonchalantly sipping her drink while unsheathing a knife under the table.

"They're leaving the shop now" Jon said, smiling as he said it to make their conversation seem casual.

"Let me know as soon as it's obvious who they're coming for. Are you sure they won't split up?"

"They're clearly arrogant enough to think they have a change at fighting one against two but they won't risk it; they're carrying out the wishes of someone more dangerous than they are, which means they can't afford to mess up".

Isabelle was slowly unravelling her whip from around her waist, while Alexander drew a sword from a sheath behind his back. It was difficult to judge how far away they were when looking out of the corner of his, but Jon was almost certain they were coming for him and Jocasta. Sure enough, they walked in a straight line towards the table; faces expressionless. "They're coming for us" he warned.

"Is one of them directly behind me?"

"Yeah, he is". Jocasta didn't hesitate; she stood up from her chair and spun 180 degrees and with a pre-determined aim launched her knife. It struck Alexander in his left arm; it wasn't his main fighting arm, but it clearly caused him pain and bought Jon enough time to sneak up on the peturbed Isabelle.

"You should have stayed in exile" he warned, as he attempted to slice through her whip with his sword. In the distance he saw Sebastian running towards them from the bathroom and Horace running in the direction of the book shop. Alexander recovered himself and swung at Jocasta, but she was fully prepared for the attack and blocked it with force, causing him to stumble backward.

Isabelle was much more difficult to deal with as she was uninjured, but Jon's sword thrusts were no longer the only defense against her now that Sebastian was cutting off her whip strikes with his throwing stars. Jocasta, having dealt with the other Lightwood for the time being, briefly joined in with a knife aimed at Isabelle's face, but it was easily dodged and Alexander was getting up again. She had noticed him bring out his steal and place an _iratze_ on his skin near the wound, meaning that he would be at full strength again before the fight was over, and now that all her knives had been used she had to prepare her sword. Sebastian was also low on weapons, and had to temporarily leave Jon to fight Isabelle alone so he could collect his throwing stars.

"Why are you doing this?" Jon asked breathlessly.

"Because unlike you we've not been brought up in safety and comfort. Sometimes you have to do something wrong if it means saving the ones you love".

During the distraction she coiled her whip around his throat and pulled with all her might, cutting off his breathing before he had a chance to fight back. He fell to the floor and writhed uncontrollably, clutching at the electrum to try and loosen it so that he could breathe again, but it wouldn't move. His vision turned to a haze, so much so that he thought he could see more than one person fighting Alexander now, instead of just Jocasta. He vaguely recollected the hilt of a knife jamming against Isabelle's skull, and seeing a dark haired boy with blue eyes stood over her unconcious body.

"Will?" Jon coughed as the boy unravelled the whip from his throat.

"It's me Morgenstern. If it's any consolation they had _A Tale of Two Cities _but they couldn't find _Tipping the Velvet_". This jogged his memory, and as his vision began to clear he realised that it was Helen who was helping Jocasta to fight off the remaining Lightwood. After making sure Jon was alright, Will started to make his way towards them with his knives at the ready, but a loud crash stopped him as Alexander fell to the floor was the remnants of a chair broken atop his head.

"Who'd have thought that swords _weren't _the best weapons?" Horace laughed, hitting Alexander in the face with the remaining chair leg for good measure.

"This seems like the perfect opportunity for a group victory/reunion hug" Sebastian suggested shyly, and for once none of them rolled their eyes or made a sarcastic joke, and they all huddled together to show how glad they were that everyone was still okay.

_"-to New York now boarding"_; it was Helen who caught the end of Swiss-accented voice over announcing it was time to board their plane. "Looks like we have a plane to catch" she said.

They were well on their way to the boarding gate when the two Lightwoods regained conciousness and prepared to follow them.


	13. Unlikely Friends

The Herondales' living room became their base of operations; they had quickly learned that planning to escape from Alicante at the moment was very difficult to do, and not something that could be executed in a day. Ella and Lucie had reported Aline's whereabouts today, as well as those of the recluse Starkweather, who yesterday Lucie had seen Aline talking to. Lucian was in the middle of giving a detailed description of the patrol patterns at the city exits, while Amatis took notes and Stephen pulled funny faces at the others to lighten the mood.

"It basically means that we need to cause a major distraction in the middle of the city; a distraction so big that calls all the guards away from at least one of the exits so Clary and Jace can get through" Lucian finished with.

"What sort of distraction could achieve that?" Stephen asked, turning serious.

"Demon attack!" Ella screamed, pointing out the window.

"Ooo that's a good idea"; Stephen.

"No I mean a real demon attack! They're in the street and everything!" They all ran to the window and looked out, shocked to see that Ella was right; there was a whole mass of varying demonic species causing terror outside their very house.

"Alert the Clave, if they don't already know" Stephen commanded, looking at his wife; "Lucie and Ella stay here and barricade the doors after the rest of us leave". The girls started to protest towards this, but Amatis took them into the next room with her. "I'll run on ahead and clear the path to the north gate; Lucian, will you see these two out of the city?"

"I'll protect them with my life"

"Good; let's move!" Clary and Jace grabbed the bags they had packed days ago in the event of an emergency, and they all grabbed an array of weapons (not a single seraph blade was left behind). The neighbours were already fighting off the demons when they'd finally left the house, and Clary had the strangest sense of déjà vu; _it can't be, there's never been a demon attack inside Idris before. _Before she let her thoughts distract her, Clary swung and stabbed with her seraph blade, easily taken out at least two opponents with every movement.

"I bet I kill more than you before we reach the gate" Jace said with a wink, having dispatched his first demon.

"I don't know if you can handle it; I'm already on four". They altered their stances into a twin battle formation; they moved in canon and used each others' strengths to improve on their individual weaknesses. At one point, they linked arms so that when Jace bent to the ground Clary could propel herself off the ground and kick at their attacks; this way they were stunned enough for her to move in for the kill when she was lowered back to earth.

"Hold up the blade of your strongest sword" Jace ordered, and used the reflection to aim at targets behind him with a bow and use the strength of the blade's surface as a bouncing mechanism that sent his arrows into their skulls. "Impressed?"

"Hardly; if you faced your enemies instead of trying to show off you'd be able to kill twice as many in half the time" she laughed, and he did too despite the remark. Within minutes, with the help of Lucian and the neighbours, they had emptied the street of demons and sheathed their weapons once it was clear there were no more hiding in the shadows.

"What have you done?!" a high-pitched voice was yelling indignantly, "they were supposed to _ride through, _not harm anyone!" The voice came from Aline and she was yelling at a cloaked man with his hood turned up.

"Arrest them!" someone shouted, "they're the ones responsible for this!" but as the Shadowhunters moved forward, a new wave of demons came hurtling past the buildings towards them.

"Clary, Jace" Lucian urged, "believe it or not you're lucky there are more of them. We need to get you out of here _now _while everyone is preoccupied with the fighting". They ran through the streets behind Lucian, but when they passed Aline Clary grabbed her from behind and dragged her along with them.

"What're you doing?" she hissed, but not too harshly.

"Keeping you from getting arrested, and you will be arrested once all the demons are killed, and giving you a chance to redeem yourself. You're coming with us to find our brothers and the others who went with them".

"No I can't-"

"Oh yes you will" Jace argued, catching up with their conversation, "you've committed the worst of crimes so either you help us and get welcomed back into the city or you help us and live in exile without being punished. You don't have any other options".

"But the poiso-"

"The coast is clear!" Stephen shouted across the final clearing to the north gate, "get going, now!" Aline reluctantly ran behind them without having to be dragged along, and together the three of them (after Jace gave a farewell hug to his father and Clary the same to Lucian) made it past the borders well before the commotion in the city centre was over.

"Who are your tears for, Nephilim? Nobody who cares is here to comfort you! Now answer me again; who are the Shadowhunters he described?!" The dark-haired boy with the glasses looked terrified, and it showed in the way he stuttered when he answered.

"T-the only one I-I know b-by name is J-jocasta Trueblood; we're related. I remember s-some of the others f-from before, b-but here were n-never allowed to visit the c-city so we never g-got to meet other S-shad-"

"Enough! What's the _point _of having you as a prisoner when you don't even know about your own _people! _I should just kill you both now and then show your corpses to Alexander and Isabelle once they've dispatched of these delinquents!" The other prisoner stepped forward, using his body to shield the other's from their torturer's wrath.

"Is that it, then? When your plans don't work you just murder and threaten others into submission? You want everyone to think you're a good leader but your plans never work. Isn't that why you started all this? Because you couldn't protect your own-"

"I did not give you permission to speak, Bane!" the figure was even angrier, if that was possible. "I think I'll keep you alive until they return, then I'll make Alexander watch you die to pain".

"Yeah well guess what? He doesn't know me in this world, does he? So who's going to look like the whiny asshole they've always been when I'm killed and he doesn't even react?" It pained him to say it, but it was the truth.

"Oh but it's for your benefit, Bane. I want your last moments to be of dying in pain whilst the person you love most watches expressionless. Perhaps I'll even tell him something horrible about you, maybe get him to believe you're the one who brought his dear brother here? Then he'll even smile with delight as your worthless life drains from you".

"They took care of the Lightwoods at the airport and are currently on a pane heading directly for New York. It looks like your next interview will have the questions asked by much more pleasant Shadowhunters"

"That's good to know". They were again meeting in Central Park, but at this time there were more people than usual strolling along the footpaths so they had chosen to rendezvous in the safety of the trees to make sure no one heard them. "Still no word from-"

"No word from _any _of the eight that we know of, if that's what you were going to ask"

"So nothing else to report then?"

"Actually, there is. Three more Shadowhunters have escaped from Alicante, so I've been told, in the midst of a demon attack. I'd suggest they're following their friends".

"More of them? That sounds like more of a burden than anything else".

"Well in that case you'd might like to know that _she _is one of them, _him _too". There was a long silence between them, followed by a hug and a lot of tears before the two unlikely friends parted ways yet again.


	14. The Girl with the Claws

Many hours later, Team Good finally arrived in New York. During the flight, Will had only been able to read a few chapters of_ A Tale of Two Cities _because Sebastian kept asking him questions about it and insisted he have some of the breadsticks he'd ordered from the cabin crew. Helen was looking through a photo album of pictures she'd taken with Aline; not all of them had her in them, but it made Helen think of her all the same. In the row behind, Jon was discussing possible plans with Horace and Jocasta, who had become his sort of second-in-commands.

When they were growing up he'd always stayed clear of other Shadowhunters, Horace and Jocasta included (even though the three of them were the same age). Clary was the more sociable one, having made friends with Aline and a few others the first time she was allowed to start training and then Helen later on. Jon wished now he'd taken the time to make friends; he was beginning to see how these two fellow-Nephilim sitting with him were more than just people in the background and he was relying on them more than he thought possible, but there was a first time for everything and they were starting to grow close.

"I say we stake out Central Park" suggested Horace, "it's a central point in the city and someone that shady dealings are likely to take place. If we're lucky the guy we're looking for will show up himself (not that we'll be able to tell it's him) but more likely some Downworlders will be lurking around who we can question".

"I think we should wait first to see if the Lightwoods followed us onto the plane" Jocasta interjected, "we took them out once we can do it again; either we do that and question them or we follow them in the hopes that they go to wherever this guy lives".

As they were getting off the plane and making their way through the airport, they still hadn't officially decided on a plan.

"Does anyone need to use the bathroom before we leave?" Jon asked.

"I do" answered Helen

"I'll go with you" offered Jocasta

"No I don't know why girls do that" Will said to Sebastian.

Helen and Jocasta walked towards the girls' bathroom together in silence, neither knowing what to say to the other but knowing it was feminine protocol for them to both go. When they came out of their cubicles they started to wash their hands in the sinks, when a girl's face in the mirror made them turn around in horror.

"Don't scream" the stranger urged, "I'm here to help you". Her skin was light brown; her hair and eyes darker; and oddly she wore a sophisticated beige raincoat over tattered cargo pants, which clashed horribly.

"Who are you?" Helen asked.

"A friend; at least I was in another life. There's no time to explain, the Lightwoods followed you onto the plane and might have even found your friends already". She moved towards the door but turned back before opening it, "do you both have weapons on you?"

"Yeah. Do you?" The girl smiled and held up her hand. Jocasta and Helen jumped back when claws began to elongate from the tips of her fingers. She bared menacing fangs and glowing yellow eyes at them; "I don't any". They emerged from the bathroom and sprinted towards where the others were. They were now accompanied by an unfamiliar boy who had tattoos creeping out from under the sleeves of his t-shirt. It was clear that he was working with the mystery girl from the bathroom, so everyone relaxed (but only a little).

"No time for introductions" to boy said, "I just spotted them over there". He pointed towards the far end of the room they were in, and sure enough a black-clad Shadowhunter was on the escalator and descending towards them.

"Why is only one of them there? Where's Isabelle?" asked Horace worriedly.

"You'd think they'd want to go for the element of surprise by emerging from this elevator right next to us" Jon said. With a wide-eyed look to each other they all turned in the direction of the elevator doors, and to their dismay the level number at the top was slowly decreasing; _4 ... 3 ... 2._

"RUN!" It wasn't clear who had said it but everyone knew they were talking sense, so without a moment's hesitation they were sprinting around a corner and huddling amongst a group of large potted plants.

"Okay" said Jon, bringing everyone to attention, "Jocasta, Will and Sebastian run for escalators with tattoo guy; hopefully that will draw one of the Lightwoods away so that the other can stay and look for the rest of us". The four of them immediately leapt to their feel and moved cautiously towards the open space, with the 'tattoo guy' throwing a worried look in his friend's direction.

"What about the rest of us?" Horace asked.

"Me and Helen will draw whoever stays behind over here where we can start the fight. You and Beyonce circle behind them so that he/she is surrounded in a corner where we have the advantage".

"Wow. No. Just because I'm black that means I'm Beyonce? That's s _racist! _Although I wouldn't mind being her. How do you even know who Beyonce is anyway if you've spent your whole life in Alicante?"

"There's an MTV Idris"

"Really?"

"No. Me and my sister had to hike over to Ragnor Fell's house and hack his radio frequency"

"Fair enough". They moved into position, but when Jon and Helen went to look past the corner they were horrified to see that either of the Lightwoods were there. "Oh God; they must've_ both _gone after the first group!" All four of them ran straight for the escalators and took the moving platforms two at a time, despite the sign warning against it. When they reached the top the scene before them was far worse than they could have imagined.

Isabelle had thrust a sword into the chest of a giant werewolf, who then fell to the ground in utter defeat. When the sword was removed they could see that the blade was made of silver, making it a fatal blow.

"We've decided to show you mercy" said Alexander, walked from the background where the three unconscious and bleeding bodies of their friends lay, "we decided to just kill the Downworlder, for now. Our contact wants you alive, but don't worry. We're not going to come back for you until we've killed the person you came all this way to see"

"Don't do it!" urged the girl, "you _need _him; he's your only ticket to the life you once had!"

"The only life we need is one where our brother is safe and with us" said Isabelle fiercely. Everyone was silent as the two Lightwoods collected their weapons and ran off out of sight. Horace was the first to move, and was now busy checking for a pulse on the werewolf who had turned back into the boy with the tattoos. He shook his head at Jon, who then gave a sympathetic look to the girl standing next to him. "I'm sorry" he said. She went to check the body for herself while Horace was confirming that everyone else was still alive, which they were.

"What was his name?" Jon asked.

"Jordan; don't sound so sad about it. You didn't even know him and he isn't really dead anyway; he'll be fine as long as we can reverse all of this"

"I don't understand"

"There's a lot to explain and I don't know how much of it I should tell you (it can be a bit overwhelming). But don't worry, we'll have a lot of time to discuss it on our way to rescuing the guy they're on their way to kill".

As she had told Jon, she knew that Jordan wasn't really dead. When they were finally able to put the world back to normal he'd be his old self again; they all would. Still, after introducing herself to Jon, Helen and Horace as Maia, she moved away silently to the corner of the room where she could cry in peace.


	15. Last Wishes

"Raphael Santiago; you have been charged and found guilty of crimes against your master by not successfully carrying out the assignments given to you. Before your execution, do you have any last wishes?"

"To not die would be a start".

Magnus watched with dismay as Raphael was forced to his knees in front of the dais. He and Max had been dragged out of their prison cells and forced to watch all of this, and during this time he had figured out what was going on. Raphael wasn't being executed for failing to kill the Shadowhunters, but because he was the vampires' leader. For some reason in this reality the four Downworlder groups had individual leaders that were meant to embody their entire species.

Raphael led the vampires (although as they were all prisoners, including himself, it didn't give him much responsibility), the Seelie Queen led the faeries (but had been murdered by one of her most trusted guards months ago, suspiciously), Ragnor fell led the Warlocks (who had also been murdered; _I guess some things never change_) and, if Magnus was lucky, the werewolf leader would even now be attaching herself to the Shadowhunters and forming a plan to save them all.

The villain on the dais with something entirely different to those four groups, and so it made sense to execute their leaders to give the villain's own band of a creatures a fighting chance in this world; they might even get the added bonus of all the leaderless Downworlders rallying to their sides now that they had no one else to turn to. _It's okay, the werewolves are still safe. _Still, Magnus wished he could save Raphael from execution so that at least the vampires were safe from this horrible wrath.

He was too busy in his thoughts to pay attention when the sword separated Raphael's head from the rest of his body.

"Where exactly are we going?" Aline asked breathlessly. They wanted to reach the airport before the next flight left for New York and unless they ran they weren't going to make it.

"Because of _you _and the Lightwoods and the recluse and _Raziel knows who else _we've got to find our rebellious brothers and their ... erm ... acquaintances? And help them find whoever the Lightwoods have been questioning all this time!" Jace huffed.

"The Lightwoods have probably killed them by now" she replied, "and then they'll have gone straight to wherever that guy lives and killed him too, or taken him to the contact".

"Who exactly is the contact?" asked Clary.

"I never met him, or her, or whatever it is. I don't think the Lightwoods did either; we were either sent written messages or met with someone who worked for the contact"

"So you don't even know what _species _we're dealing with?"

"I'm guessing not human. And before you ask I don't know anything about the guy they were questioning either, not even his name. The only thing I can tell you is that he gave the Lightwoods a message for you, Clary".

"Me? Really?"

"Yes. Apparently he said 'the missing piece is the circle'. Does that mean anything to you? Clary!" Aline and Jace stopped in their tracks and bent over Clary, who had fallen to the floor unconscious. All she saw was blackness, but many words whispered through her head.

"_I hereby render unconditional obedience to the Circle and its principles ... I will be ready to risk my life at any time for the Circle, in order to preserve the purity of the bloodlines of Idris, and for the mortal world with whose safety we are charged"_

"_She was Valentine's wife"_

"_What you saw you would forget, even as you saw it. No image of pixie or goblin or long-legged beastie would remain to trouble your blameless mortal sleep"_

"_Do they bloom every night?"_

"_Only at midnight"_

"_Happy birthday Clarissa Fray"_

"_Clary! Wake up! What did you say to her, Aline? What's wrong with her?"_

She tried her best to look like an average Shadowhunter citizen as she strode through the city. Whoever the Penhallow girl had entrusted with the task of letting the demons in, they had done a good job. When she'd arrived at the borders, not only was she able to pass easily into the city but there were no Nephilim on patrol to see her do so. She was smug.

_Stop it_ she told herself, _you have a job to do. _Raphael was stupid enough to get them all imprisoned by that _monster, _but she had been given the opportunity to prove that the vampires were loyal to the cause; _whatever that cause is._ She thought it would be daunting, the task of murdering the consul, but she felt oddly calm as she made her way into the woman's bedroom. Jia Penhallow was fast asleep, her husband lying next to her, which meant that both of them would have to die; _more for me then_. As she bent over the bed the breathed in the scent of blissful ignorance, but it was disturbed when the couple suddenly woke up.

"Who are you?" Jia urged, before nail marks clawed their way painfully down her cheek, "run!" she begged her husband. Stupidly, he stayed where he was and watched hopelessly as the blood and life were draining from his wife. She moved straight to him next, and within minutes their pale white bodies were sprawled next to each other, motionless. Both their unconscious last wishes were for Aline to be safe.

Now it was time to leave. As she made her way through the streets her bitterly regretted the fact that Helen Blackthorn was no longer in the city, having run off with the other young Shadowhunters, as she would have loved to pay her a visit. After all, no one could call her fat, even go to the length of wearing a fat suit to impersonate her, and live to tell the tale. _Let's just hope that Alexander and his sister save her for me; perhaps I'll go find them now._

She was long gone from Alicante before the bodies of the Penhallows were discovered hours later.

"Sorry Lucian I'm a bit busy at the moment; this whole Penhallow tragedy is just ... I don't even know where to begin" Jocelyn said, sighing from exhaustion. Everyone had been up half the night reeling from the disaster that took place at the Penhallows' house apparently only a few hours before the bodies were discovered by a neighbour. She was furious at everyone; all everybody could think about how was horrible it was that the Clave had lost their Consul, when more importantly (as Jocelyn and a few others had argued) they had lost two incredible people and a girl had lost her parents.

"I understand it's a terrible time to be dragging you away, but I don't know who else to turn to; it's Celine" Lucian replied. At this Jocelyn told the others that she needed to step outside for a minute and quickly followed Lucian to the house where he and Celine lived.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't even know. She just suddenly collapsed to the floor and when she woke up she was talking nonsense; she's done this before but it's never been this bad". When they entered the house they found her sitting cross-legged on the floor, rocking back and forth and hissing words into the air.

"What's the matter, Celine?" Jocelyn asked

"Eight, eight, I'm one of the eight" she replied incomprehensibly.

"I- I don't understand-"

"I died, did you know that? I died when I lost my poor husband so that the poor baby wouldn't have to live without his father".

"Celine" Lucian said, "you've never been married. And these words, they make me worried about _our _baby".

"The baby in me now won't be here much longer. Not if the little children stop the big badness from keeping me alive. Oh hello Jocelyn! Have you met my husband? He died tragically and I just couldn't live with it". Lucian and Jocelyn stood off to the side and whispered worriedly to each other.

"When did she start?"

"This particular incident started a few hours ago"

"You don't think that-"

"I know it seems coincidental but she's been here all night; she never would've killed the Penhallows". They moved closer so that they could listen to her again.

"They are eight of us you see. The friend, the grandmother and the boy who died makes three, you see. Then there's the big bad wolf and him with the eyes; FIVE! FIVE!"

"Can you make any sense of this, Jocelyn?"

"I'm sorry; I've no idea what she's going on about".

"Only three more to go! Let's start with Persephone-"

"You're not making any sense!" Lucian screamed.

"Then the madwoman; THAT'S ME! Although number eight is a bit loopy too. I call him the French Snake-" there was a long silence, followed by Celine looking right at them with a serious and genuinely sane expression on her face. "Take some of my blood; you'll need it, take some before it's too late". She heaved a great coughing fit and fell forward, no longer breathing.

"Lucian I'm so sorry". Jocelyn conformed that she was dead, tears in her eyes, while Lucian fumbled around in a chest of draws looking for something. When he came forward with a syringe she gained control of herself, "what're you doing?"

"Carrying out her last wishes".


	16. The Eight

They had followed Maia to the subway station, where they were now waiting for their ride to the mysterious interviewee of the Lightwoods (if it wasn't already too late). While they were waiting, Jon and the others took the opportunity to get some answers out of their new friend.

"Apparently you said something to Jocasta and Helen back at the airport" he started, "something about- what was it again?" he turned towards the two girls.

"You said that you were a friend, in another life" replied Helen, looking directly at Maia. Before answering she took a deep breath, almost as if hesitating to tell them anything. _She said that the truth might be overwhelming _Jon remembered, worried about what she might have to tell them.

"I was referring to the life that was taken from us; the lives we al lead before the world was changed to _this_" she gestured towards their surroundings.

"Hang on" Horace butted in, "you're saying that this isn't real or something? Like parallel worlds and Doctor Who type rubbish?"

"I don't expect you to believe me-"

"Of course we don't!" yelled Will, before realising that they were in a public place and people might be listening, "for one thing, wouldn't we remember like you apparently do if none of this was real?"

"No; I remember because I'm one of the eight". _Eight. _Jon saw recognition in Helen's eyes first, but then he too remembered how many times that number had invaded this mysterious quest. "I don't know why, or how, or anything about it really; all I know is that eight people were chosen to keep their memories of the old world and I'm one of them".

"Was ... Jordan one too?" Sebastian asked, looking anxious for mentioned Maia's recently departed friend.

"No, but we were very... _close ... _in the old world so I made sure our paths crossed again and I convinced him of the truth. He didn't remember like I do, but he wasn't ignorant of the truth like everyone else".

"Have you met any of the other eight? Or do you know who they are?" Jocasta asked.

"Funnily enough, they're people I either met or knew of in the old world and in _this _world I was able to maintain contact. There's only one of them we still haven't identified, but we think he or she is the person behind all this"

"The bad guy?"

"I suppose".

"Are we all in this other world?"

"I can't guarantee it. But some of you are definitely people that I remember" at this she gave a curious look toward Jon and then Sebastian. There was a long silence as the group turned towards each other, all of them fighting between scepticism and belief. Jon was perhaps most torn; she was trying to tell them that everything they knew; all of their memories, relationships, experiences; were a lie, and that tucked away somewhere were their true selves and they knew nothing about them. _What if I don't like the real me? _Jon thought sadly, _what if _this _life is better?_

"So who is actually behind this?" he finally plucked up the courage to ask.

"I wish I knew. For a while we thought it could be-" again that suspicious look toward Jon, "but whoever it is is still trying to manipulate everyone around them. That's why the Lightwoods have been questioning him"

"Him?"

"The guy we're about to go and see".

He wasn't going to risk going to Central Park today, not when his friend had warned him about the recent movements of the Shadowhunters. He wondered if Maia and Jordan had tracked the first group yet, and if so how much of the truth they would tell them. He was bored; _I won't be bored much longer, not when we're finally coming to the end of this nightmare. _His room was littered with pages and pages of notes and research. Whenever some of the eight came to visit (usually his Central Park friend) they would narrow down all the Shadowhunters, Downworlders, demons, angels, mundane and whoever else they could think of to try and pin all of this down to an individual. But it was useless; the culprit was still a mystery after all this time.

He was shocked out of his thoughts by someone angrily banging on his front door; _maybe it's Maia and Jordan with the Shadowhunters. Maybe it's Magnus, escaped from capture, telling me they've won, maybe it's Alec and Isabelle come to question me again, or worse ... _He cautiously approached the door and looked through the peephole, discovering to his horror and dismay that his last theory was right; on the other side were the Lightwoods, brandishing weapons and flashing eyes that were filled with anything but mercy.

He threw anything he could at the door to barricade himself in, but within minutes the Lightwoods gave up the notion of him willingly opening the door and started to try and break it down. In his room he fished out a blank piece of paper from the sea of scribbled notes and wasted precious seconds in finding a pen. He did his best to write legibly as he thought up the message of warning for whoever came to the apartment first. One it was done, and made coherent, all he had to do was sign his name.

_S-_

The lock on the door was broken with a violent bang from the blunt end of a weapon, but he still had time while the two Nephilim attempted to manoeuvre through his furniture barricade. He had to finish before they began to search the apartment, where they would undoubtedly find him and either kill him or take him as a prisoner.

_I-_

The crackle of Isabelle's electrum whip could be heard all the way from his room. He had no doubt that the momentum she could create with the weapon would have been enough to clear a path for her and her brother and come into the apartment. His time was almost up but all he needed to do was just finish his name.

_M-_

Alec (or Alexander in this world) was the first to reach him. He didn't hesitate to punch him in the face and using the opportunity when he fell to the floor to track him backwards and towards the main room. Alec's grip was too strong to break out of, but with an ounce of strength he was able to grab the paper and desperately scratch his pen across the surface

_I-_

He was being lifted from the ground; now that Isabelle was helping there was no chance of him finding a way out of their savage hold on him. The sweat from his hands was causing the paper to slowly slip from his fingers. Now it was stationary on the wooden floor and he was moving away from it, but before he pushed forward with all his might, and bending down was able to finish writing his final letter.

_M._

Halfway across the world, Jace and Aline kept their vigil on the still unconscious Clary. The Clave's most prodigal Shadowhunter was still lost in the words tumbling through her mind; the memories that were slowly coming back to her. But now something, or rather someone, new had found their way into this stream of remembrance.

_His freshly scrubbed hair was dark brown instead of green or pink, and his glasses perched crookedly on the end of his nose. He looked less as if he were contemplating the powers of darkness and more as if he were on his way to chess club._

_ "Jesus!"_

_ "Actually, it's just me. Although I've been told the resemblance is startling"_

_ "I've been in love with you for ten years"_

She woke up with a start.

"I remember"

And then there were nine.


	17. Old Friends and Reunions

_Switzerland:_

"What do you mean, you remember?" Jace asked sceptically. Before he knew it, Clary had thrown her arms around him and pressed her lips against his own. In that kiss he felt warmth, passion and an odd sense of familiarity.

"We need to get to New York, now" she replied.

"There may be one or two problems with that" sang a sinister a voice from behind them. When they turned they were face to face with a beautifully pale woman in stylish clothes and with a sophisticated posture, who was flashing sharp vampire fangs at them. "Firstly, poor Aline Penhallow won't make it any further without the antidote to the poison in her body". She indicated towards Aline, who Clary and Jace had only just realised was kneeling on the floor, face contorted in pain. "And secondly" the woman giggled, "I'll kill you before you enter my leader's domain".

The young Shadowhunters started to draw their weapons, but before they could strike (or the vampire could lunge at them) her head was suddenly and brutally severed from her body with one clean sweep of a sword. Horrified, they retreated to a safe distance closer to Aline, but started to relax when they realised who the killer was.

At least, they knew _what _the killer was. It was strange to see a Silent Brother so far from the Silent City, or Alicante, but at the same time there was something unusually human about this one. His dark hair and high cheekbones were just visible underneath his hood, and then Clary remembered him. But before she or Jace could speak, the hooded man moved towards the hunched-over figure of Aline.

_I know what you're thinking _he whispered into their heads, _she isn't really fat. _It took Clary a moment to realise what he meant, and then despite the circumstances she burst into a fit of laughter.

"_That _was Camille Belcourt?" Jace asked; the Silent Brother nodded.

_We don't have much time. All three of you need to make it to New York if we stand any chance of reverting what has been done, but I don't know if your friend will survive much longer. Luckily I'm somewhat of an expert on demon poisons, and if you let me escort you I can tend to her._

"Why not?" Jace decided, "if my brother can have five team members then that means I need more than that; plus he'll be so jealous when he finds out I bagged a Silent Brother". He may not have been able to literally speak, but Clary thought she heard someone sigh inside her head.

_New York: Subway._

Sebastian couldn't help making eye contact with Maia as they rode the subway towards their destination, even though he knew he shouldn't. He was glad she hadn't announced him to the others as one of the _eight_; he didn't think his new friends would forgive him for the deception, and he'd never had friends before. His child-like innocence and optimistic attitude was genuine, but at the same time it had always made it easier for others to pass off his talk about other worlds and dimensions as the mere whimsical fantasies of someone with such a strong imagination.

He looked away from the werewolf and instead stared at Jon, the boy who took his life and his name on the very same day. He had never forgiven him for that, because there was nothing _to_ forgive. Sebastian had been killed by a monster, but this boy in front of him was a hero. He had befriended his own murderer, but in the process had learned that that same Shadowhunter had the potential to be someone worth dying for. Because of this, when the world was put right, he was completely willing to die at the hands of Jonathan Morgenstern, because he would look into his eyes knowing that his friend Jon was still in there telling him that everything would be alright.

_Deep Underground:_

"You had something to do with this, Bane. I know you did so JUST TELL ME!" the figure screamed at him. Magnus couldn't help being smug, despite being held prisoner in the most dangerous place imaginable. He had always acquiesced in the past to avoid punishment (if not for his own sake then for Max's) but now he just wanted to laugh in this monster's face.

"You know the rules; you told me yourself what Ithuriel said" Magnus began, as if quoting from a textbook. "In order to ensure that the Circle was never formed, you had to directly alter eight lives. As payment, another eight had to keep their memories of the old world. (By the way thanks for choosing me and Max; we've had some rather remarkable conversations on the subject). Additionally, if one of the eight should die then another must have their memories returned to them; only in _that_ instance you don't get a say in who is chosen, like with dear old Maia Roberts. Is it _my _fault if Clary was chosen after Celine died?"

"Yes"

"Well maybe I had a little spell worked up, maybe not. But isn't it fun this way? Watching you squirm at the thought of someone like Clary not only getting her memories back, but also her gifts?"

"Is it _possible?!_"

"Who knows? Maybe she can now create a rune to give herself the remarkable power you stole away from our captured angel friend. I'd love to be transported to an alternate reality where you're my butler, or maid, whichever you prefer-"

"Enough! If you remember I _also _told you that once all of the original eight are dead then _this _world becomes the _real _world; permanent! Thank you for reminding me of Miss Roberts; I don't need to redden my hands with her or Clarissa's blood quite yet, which leaves only six; should I start with the youngest and work up?"

_Oh no_ he thought hopelessly, _Max._

_New York: Apartment_

As Simon was being dragged mercilessly down the street, he tried to account for all of the _eight _in the hopes that at least one of them would be safe from capture, but it wasn't looking promising. To help him he thought about Celine's analogy, which she often repeated in her letters that were repeated to him whenever he visited Central Park.

Celine herself had been _the Madwoman _(awkward) but she was also probably dead now; _hopefully my message was passed on to Clary in time_; Magnus had said that the spell he'd placed in the phrase would trigger her memories if she heard the words either just before or just after Celine died. The _French Snake _was Sebastian Verlac, who was probably in the very centre of danger right now with Maia Roberts (the _Big Bad Wolf_) and the others. _Him with the Eyes _(Magnus) and _the Boy who died _(Max) were still being held prisoner by whoever was behind this (_Persephone? We never found out if the bad guy counted as one of the eight so maybe not_). Simon himself was known as _the Friend,_ which left only one-

His thoughts were disrupted by a shout of pain from Alec, who was doubled up on the floor with a knife in his chest. Before the teary-eyed Isabelle could move an inch towards her dead brother, she too collapsed after being hit in the head with a lead pipe. Simon looked up, shocked and relieved to see the last of the eight (and his friend from Central Park) stood before him wielding the pipe in her hands, her long brown hair flowing in the breeze that had settled in and making her look like a comic book heroine.

"Did you have to kill him?" he asked, pointing towards Alec, but still grateful that she had saved his life.

"If we can finally stop all of this then it won't really matter" she replied, despite the guilty look she flashed towards the dead body. _The Friend _and _the Grandmother _had never met in the other world, but their newfound friendship in this reality completely justified the long friendly hug they shared at the realisation they were both alive and okay. Simon needed her help to rally together the rest of them in the hopes of putting the world right again, but first he just wanted to hug and pretend that for once they were safe.

"I'm so glad to see you, Tessa".


	18. Henry and Adelaide

_The real world: Sixteen years ago_

_American Shadowhunter Institute_

"Of course I'll marry you Henry!" Adelaide squealed in delight. Henry gallantly pushed the ring onto her finger and stood up, only to be embraced and kissed repeatedly by his now fiancé. No one in the Institute had ever seen a couple more in love than Henry and Adelaide, so when they all came running into the training room to congratulate them it came as no surprise that they'd guessed what was happening. The only person who wasn't smiling was their tutor, who also had news to impart.

"There has been an uprising in Alicante" was all he said.

"What?!" many voices shouted at once.

"Valentine Morgenstern's associates, the Circle, have intentionally disrupted the signing of the Accords and are slaughtering Downworlders" he told them, "their belief system has for a while now been based on the inferiority of Downworlder blood". There was a long silence in the room where no one knew what to say, wandering what everyone else thought about this latest development. At last it was the newly-engaged Adelaide who voiced her opinion.

"Good" she said. No one gasped or argued, but looked to her with hopeful expressions that suggested they wanted her to elaborate. "We should join them".

"As in _go _to Alicante? On such short notice?" someone asked sceptically.

"Actually" interjected Henry, "there are plenty of Downworlders within walking distance of this very Institute. I say we dish out a little justice of our own".

Those who survived the night would regret their actions for the rest of their lives in that world, but at the time no one voiced a single objection to carrying out such a violent task. Many asked where they should attack first, and both Henry and Adelaide knew just the place that they had wanted to completely extinguish once and for all for a very long time.

Neither Henry nor Adelaide made it back alive.

_The new world: Present day_

_The Silent City_

"Isn't it illegal to use the secret tunnels of the Silent City to cross long distances in a short space of time?" Clary asked while panting from baring the weight of Aline's upper half. Jace had offered to take that end, but Clary didn't think Jace and a girl's chest would mix well together (_I'm not jealous or anything_) so Jace was carrying her feet.

_I'm a Silent Brother _whispered the voice of Brother Zachariah in their heads (as Clary now remembered the very unique Silent Brother from before the world had changed), _I can do what I want._

"How long will it take to reach New York?" it was now Jace's turn to ask a question, "and you still haven't told us everything; are you like Clary? Do you remember?"

_You _do _ask a lot of questions. I am not one of the eight like Clarissa, but a long-time friend of mine is and she has told me the truth about the world in detail. For those who learn the truth it is their responsibility to help put it right again._

They didn't talk for the rest of the journey through the dark tunnels; the only sound was the occasional pained moans from the unconscious Aline, who Brother Zachariah said wouldn't last much longer if they didn't reach their destination soon. They eventually emerged from a tomb and into a graveyard in the middle of New York, where they gently put Aline down on the grass.

"How are we supposed to cure her?" asked Jace.

_There is only one way, but we need to find your friends first and even then they might not think it wise. _Clary didn't understand this; she wandered why they themselves couldn't do something to help their friend, but she didn't argue.

"Let's go find them then" she finally said.

_New York: apartment_

"Simon!" Maia shouted, "are you all right? What happened?" she pointed towards the dead body of Alec Lightwood, and the unconscious body of his sister. Simon and Tessa ran over to the group, where they both in turn hugged Maia like long-lost friends. "I guess some introductions are in order" Maia said in the direction of the group, before pointing towards the two members of the eight. "This is Simon Lewis and Tessa H-"

"-Gray" Tessa answered quickly, looking towards Will with an oddly sad look in her eyes, "Tessa Gray".

"And you're both members of the eight?" Horace and Jocasta asked at the same time.

"Yes" Simon replied.

"How is it decided?" Jon questioned, "why were you specifically chosen to remember?" Everyone gathered around Tessa, who they sought out as the person with the most knowledge on the subject. She sat down on the pavement, took a deep sigh, and began; "We've tried for a long time to work out this whole thing. We still don't know what reasons our common enemy had for choosing us, but there's a certain criteria that has to be met".

"According to Magnus" Simon interrupted, "the last time we spoke to him, anyway. He said that eight maintained memories were the price that had to be paid for changing the world, and that the perpetrator got to choose who it was".

"We're guessing that now Magnus has been captured he knows who is behind it all" said Maia, "but there's no way for us to contact him and find out, or try to rescue him". She sent an apologetic look towards Tessa and motioned for her to continue.

"As I was saying, he or she could only maintain the memories of certain people. They had to be people who either had died in the real world, but were brought back as a result of the changes that were made, or people who have lived long enough to have conquered death almost indefinitely".

"Something about having to already know what it's like to cross dimension boundaries in order to not be affected by the sort of changes that were made": Maia.

"We don't know about the bad guy" said Simon, "but we know how the others fit into all of this. Magnus and Tessa are (sort of) warlocks so they come into the second category. Meliorn was the same because he's a faerie, but he was executed for killing the Seelie Queen and got replaced by Maia (the rules don't apply to replacements, and they're also not chosen by the bad guy). I was a vampire, and they're technically dead, so I came back to life as a result of the changes. The others all died in the real world; including ... erm ..." everyone followed his gaze to Sebastian, who was acting the part of an innocent spectator to all this new information.

"Sebastian?" Helen asked, "are you-"

"Are you one of the eight?" Will finished.

"I didn't think you'd believe me" was his excuse, "I never make friends because they always think I'm weird and make up stories. None of them know that all the stories are true, and now that I've finally made friends I didn't want to lose you and the less you knew the better". He looked down ashamedly as Jocasta walked over to him. Sebastian winced as he expected her to hit him or start yelling, but instead she wrapped her arms around him. Horace was next to join in, followed by Will and Helen, and finally Jon.

"Friendship is about trust" said Will, "but it's also about protection and sacrifice and so much more"

"The six of us have been through too much together for this friendship to ever break, no matter which of us is alive or not _or_ which world we're living in" added Helen.

They turned to the others and started to form a plan of action.

_Sixteen years ago_

_American Shadowhunter Institute_

_(this time in the new world)_

"Of course I'll marry you Henry!" Adelaide squealed in delight. Henry gallantly pushed the ring onto her finger and stood up, only to be embraced and kissed repeatedly by his now fiancé. No one in the Institute had ever seen a couple more in love than Henry and Adelaide, so when they all came running into the training room to congratulate them it came as no surprise that they'd guessed what was happening.

Everyone was smiling, even their tutor; there was no other news to impart.

_A few months later_

"So _that's _why you got married so quickly!" their friends teased.

"Don't be silly" said Adelaide, "I'm only one month pregnant!" they all laughed. Henry placed a protective hand on the stomach of his wife, the new Mrs Greenshade.

"_Please _can we name him after my father?" he asked hopefully.

"Really? A child named Horace is bound to get bullied by all the other young Shadowhunters, especially if we take him to train in Alicante; those city kids can be awful sometimes" she replied.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeaaassee"

"Okay. Only if it's a boy though". Everyone laughed again, but then erupted with cheers and calls as the couple kissed in front of them all.


	19. Remember

_New York: apartment_

"Who did you say these guys were again?" Will said, voicing the question that everyone wanted to ask. Tessa had told them there were people who could help them, and now she had returned with three strangers waiting for orders.

"We need to rally what remains of the four Downworlder communities. Maia can gather the werewolves and these three have offered to assemble their own groups for us" Tessa answered.

"I thought you were a warlock though" Simon pointed out.

"I am in a manner of speaking, but because of technicalities the few warlocks that are left in the world don't really consider me a spokesperson for the rest of them. But not to worry, this is Edric Night" she gestured towards the male warlock. His skin was a mild purple colour and each of his hands had seven fingers, but apart from that he looked relatively human with his dark hair and average facial features.

"A pleasure" he said quietly to the others. Next Tessa indicated the faerie of the group. She was elegantly tall, with rich auburn/burgundy hair and eyes that sparkled like diamonds.

"Yvaine will help us with the faeries" Tessa told the others; the faerie woman remained silent but smiled slowly at the group. "And finally we have-"

"Colin" the third stranger interrupted, "Colin the vampire". Horace and Jocasta were trying desperately to suppress their laughter; Will and Helen weren't so lucky at restraining themselves. Tessa looked slightly angry, but when everyone burst into giggles she let it slip.

"So what do we do now?" Jon finally said after the laughter died down.

"Apart from our three guests and myself" Maia pointed out, "there are eight of you. Each of the four Downworlders should take two people as back-up and then we come up with a suitable meeting point".

"I'll go with Colin!" Simon announced, "gotta show some support for the alternate world vamps"

"I'll join you" Sebastian suggested.

"Are you coming with me Tessa?" Edric Night asked

"I'd better not; the other warlocks might be more reluctant to cooperate if they find out that I'm with you. You, Magnus, Ragnor and Catarina have always been the only warlocks to accept me. It's okay; I'll accompany Jon and Yvaine"

"Who said I was going with Yvaine?" Jon interjected

"I did, just now".

"Me and Horace will go with you, Edric" announced Jocasta, leaving Will and Helen to rally the werewolves with Maia. After agreeing on a place to meet up in a few hours (the nearest subway station) they all departed with their Downworlder representatives.

They were all so quick to trust each other.

No one remembered that Isabelle Lightwood was still alive and starting to wake up.

_New York: subway_

"Excellent idea taking the subway, Bro Zach" Jace muttered sarcastically, "no one on a highly used public transportation system will pay any attention to the mutilated floating hooded man with the unconcious near-death teenage girl and the two leather-dressed youths brandishing knives menacingly".

_Brother Jeremiah took my favourite carriage, Jonathan, and there was no time to find a more discreet method of tavelling quickly_ Brother Zachariah whispered to their thoughts. While they argued, Clary was sat with Aline's unconcious head resting on her lap, urging her to wake up. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't wake her dying friend.

"Come on Aline" she said quietly, "we need you".

"What exactly do we need to do to cure her?" Jace asked Brother Zachariah accusingly, as so far he hadn't really told them anything. The Silent Brother took a deep sigh (at least Clary thought it was a sigh) before beginning.

_If she is to live, she has to become an Iron Sister. There is no other way to cure her, but I'm not prepared to take her straight to the Adamant Citadel. This has happened before, but the person it affected was concious enough to choose that path for themself and was content in knowing that the people they loved most in this world would be safe in the company of each other. We must find your friends as among them is Helen Blackthorn, who Aline loves enough to trust with the decision of whether or not to turn her into one of the Iron Sisters._

"Aline _loves _Helen Blackthorn? As in les-" Jace began.

"_That's _all you took from this?!"Clary interrupted, "we should be focusing on the fact that Aline will either become an Iron Sister forever or die. I'm not sure which path is worse". She realised her mistake when it was too late, and before she could apologise Brother Zachariah beat her to it.

_This is not a bad life, Clarissa. Aline will be able to know that the girl she loves is safe, whereas death only brings uncertainty and torment. _

"But she'll have to see Helen die one day, and she won't be any older".

_It provides contentment, to see someone you love die of old age, surrounded by people who love them, and living a long and happy life that you had always wanted for them._

"Guys" said Jace, worriedly, "we have company". During their conversation the train had stopped more than once, and at some point the person walking towards them had gotten on without them realising. The girl started to skip merrily in their direction, a sinister grin spreading across her face.

"That's impossible" Clary whispered, horrified, "in this world she should be human, why is she-"

"A vampire?" the girl suggested, "it was my reward for helping the creator of this world over the years. Now my job is to kill all of you, and for all my hard work Simon will be kept alive so that I can marry him".

"She knows?" asked Jace, "Maureen is one of the eight?"

"No silly" Maureen giggled, "but my master trusted me enough to tell me everything, and guess what?" she was now stood in front of them, leaning forward to whisper in their ears, "I know who they really are, and you'll _never_ guess".

Maureen lunged at them.

_Dungeons _

"We shouldn't do this, Mr Bane" Max urged anxiously, tugged on Magnus' shoulder, "what if we get caught?"

"Well it's a good thing our captor left already, isn't it?" he ruffled the boy's hair to reassure him that everything would be okay before approaching the neighbouring cell. Magnus had known for a while who occupied the cell, but he wouldn't dare try to talk to him with the risk of being seen looming over him. "Ithuriel?" he whispered.

"Yes?" a tortured voice croaked from the other side of the bars.

"We need to end this" Magnus stated.

"There's nothing I can do"

"You're the one who gave them the ability to do all this!"

"I was forced; tricked. By my own- my own-"

"Your own child"

"No … no child of m-mine. A good child would never lock up their own- own f-father. If they're not stopped soon; if they succeed in killing the eight, this world will bec-come the only w-world".

"Which is why you need to help us". As Magnus waited for a response he realised that the angel was so close to death that a reply may never come. Before he could find out if Ithuriel had finally died, he ushered Max back towards the far end of their own cell. Max started to cry, but Magnus cradled his head and told him everything would be alright.

_New York: apartment_

"Wake up!" she cried at the lifeless form on the ground, holding his shoulders and shaking him in the hopes of him not really being dead. "Please, Alec. I need y-"

_ Isabelle drifted over, Jace a pace behind her. She was wearing a long black dress with boots and an even longer cutaway coat of soft green velvet, the color of moss. "I can't believe you did it!" she exclaimed. "How did you get Magnus to let Jace leave?""Traded him for Alec," Clary looked mildly alarmed. "Not permanently?" "No," said Jace. "Just for a few hours. Unless I don't come back," he added thoughtfully. "In which case, maybe he does get to keep Alec. Think of it as a lease with an option to buy." Isabelle looked dubious. "Mom and Dad won't be pleased if they find out." "That you freed a possible criminal by trading away your brother to a warlock who looks like a gay Sonic the Hedgehog and dresses like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?" Simon inquired. "No, probably not."_

"What the hell was _that?!" _she let go of Alec's body and stumbled up off the ground. "I … remember".


	20. Trust No One

_New York: subway_

"Ever since I was made leader I moved the pack to the subway; it's hidden well and has quick getaway options" Maia was saying. She had taken Will and Helen to the nearest subway which, as well as being the place where they would later meet the others, was the place where New York's largest werewolf pack was currently in hiding.

"How many of you are there?" Helen asked.

"This pack has about thirty to forty, but once we've got them on board they can branch out to neighbouring packs and recruit them too. There are at least fifty werewolf packs in New York alone".

"Are you sure they'll help?" Will sounded sceptical.

"I'm their leader" replied Maia, "if they don't help then they'll wake up in the real world after all this is over with my teeth marks in their throats". As they spoke a train rolled to a stop beside them; everything about the train and its passengers was normal apart from the two Shadowhunters fighting or vampire, or the Silent Brother, or the unconcious girl.

"That's my brother!" shouted Will

"That's my g- my … Aline!" screamed Helen

"That's bitchface Maureen" added Maia, "how is she still a vampire?"

Clary flipped over Maureen's head and tried to put her knife to her neck from behind, but Maureen had fast reflexes and was able to spin around before there was any chance of her being killed. Jace lunged at her with a sword but was thrown back with a kick to his stomach and then Clary was pushed to the ground as well; now both Shadowhunters were lying on the ground of the subway platform.

"Should we help them?" Helen asked.

Will sighed, "looks like they need it".

_New York: Central Park_

Jon, Tessa and the faerie Yvaine were making there way through Central Park, trying to find an entrance to the Seelie Court. Yvaine had told them that after the Queen's death, the faeries had mostly gone rogue and moved off to other parts of the country, but there were still many who chose to remain in the place they had always thought of as home.

"Is it much further?" Tessa asked.

"I don't think so; if I remember right there should be a tunnel just behind that copse of trees that leads into one of the Court's central passages" was the answer Yvaine gave. She was proven right when they emerged from the trees and were met by two armed Seelie knights waiting to escort them in.

"We were told you were coming" the tallest said.

"Lead on, then" Jon replied.

_New York: Apartment_

The memories came flooding back to Isabelle in a burst of consciousness that was too much for her. The only good thing to come from it, she knew, was that it meant Alec wasn't really dead as long as she could put things right; she even thought that her extreme reaction to his death might have caused her to be chosen as one of the eight. The one thing that worried her, though, was not knowing which of the eight had died in order for her to remember. Another anomaly was that, unlike the others, she had been given the truth along with her memories.

Which meant she knew as soon as she recovered who was behind all this.

_I need to warn the others_ she thought.

_New York: Hotel Dumort_

"What did you do?! Simon asked Colin angrily, who like him was covered in Sebastian's blood.

"He told me to do this" Colin replied

"Why?"

Colin explained Sebastian's plan as best he could. As they had made their way over to the hotel so they could rally any vampires who hadn't yet been taken prisoner, Sebastian had whispered hurriedly to Colin to turn him into a vampire. He would then still be able to join in the fight, but it would give another their memories back (he hoped it would be Isabelle as her grief over her brother's death could trigger something) and Colin obeyed as soon as they reached the Dumort. "So now we must bury him" Colin finished.

"No" said Simon.

"No? Come on you know how this all works; you've been through it all yourself"

"We're not making him a vampire. It's complicated"

"Explain".

Simon took a deep breath before responding. "I never knew Sebastian Verlac in the real world, but from what I gathered he was a nice enough guy and honestly that description didn't do justice to the person I've met in this world. He's dead in the real world, Colin. Do _you _think we should bring him back just for him to find out that he won't make it in the end? He deserves this; to go out unawares before things get really bad".

"Okay; but we're not leaving him here. If what you say about him is true then he deserves to be left somewhere much nicer than a vampire hotel". The two boys started to pick up Sebastian's limp body when someone emerged from the around the corner of the building.

"Simon!" Isabelle shouted. She always knew his name in this world, but he could tell now that she was saying it with familiarity and something much, much more.

"Isabelle!" he shouted back with relief. He didn't care how cheesy it was; he ran down the street to her and threw his arms around her waist. He was partially shocked when her lips met his, but then it changed to contentment when he realised how happy her knowing touch made him. "You got your memories back" he said obviously when they finally spared a second to breathe.

"It's not just that" she replied, sounding frantic now, "I know who caused all of this and if I overheard your plans right before then some of our allies are in great danger". Within minutes Colin had hauled Sebastian over his shoulder and joined Simon and Isabelle, holding hands, as they all ran back down the street hoping that they weren't too late.

_New York: Magnus' place_

"There aren't many warlocks left anymore" Edric was telling Horace and Jocasta as they entered the apartment, "but if already summoned as many as I could to Magnus' apartment as a base of operations". They were introduced to the small group of male and female warlocks in the room, including Catarina Loss who Tessa had mentioned earlier, and then went off into an adjoining room while Edric updated them all.

"I think we should-" Jocasta began

"Shut up you _annoying woman_" Horace interrupted. Before Jocasta knew what he was doing he had crossed the room in two long strides and pulled her towards him in such an affectionate yet passionate hold that it sent her speechless. "Ever since I met you I've spent every day getting on your nerves so you wouldn't guess how much in love with you I was and laugh at me, but Raziel be damned if he thinks I'm dying in this fight without ever doing this once". He had never sounded so charming and chivalrous before, but before Jocasta could comment she found his lips pressed against her own lovingly and for a very long time. She pushed him away and hit him in the arm.

"Ow!"

You're the stupidest person I ever met, Horace Greenshade! Every time you put apple crumble in my weapons bag I thought you were going to ask me out, and as much as I wanted to it was _always _the apple crumble and _that's _why I retaliated!" now it was her turn to kiss him.

"We're ready for ... oh ... erm ... sorry" came Edric's voice from the doorway, but neither of the young Shadowhunters heard him. He quietly let himself out while Horace Greenshade and Jocasta Trueblood spent an awful long time doing things that they should've been doing years ago instead of tormenting each other.

But there was a first time for everything.

_New York: Central Park_

The three of them were just about to follow the two Seelie knights through the tunnel when urgent voices came rumbled through the trees behind them.

"Stop!" someone shouted. It was Simon and Isabelle who came through first, closely followed by a tired looking Colin the vampire carrying an unconscious Sebastian on his shoulder. As Simon and Isabelle caught their breaths he lowered the body to the soft grassy ground.

"What're you guys doing here?" Jon asked. Isabelle wouldn't make eye contact with him, and her now rigid posture suggested she was doing everything she could to restrain herself from lunging at him. _What did I do now? _Jon thought, but before he could voice it Simon answered.

"Isabelle knows the truth; she remembers"

"How much?" Tessa asked

"All of it" Isabelle answered

"Does she know whose responsible?" Yvaine asked

"Yes" Simon replied. Isabelle took a step back, and started to lift a finger when one of the Seelie knights grabbed Yvaine from behind and put his sword to her dainty throat. Jon and Tessa retreated to where the others were standing while the second Seelie knight moved towards Sebastian's body with his own sword drawn.

"Drop your weapons" he ordered. All of them had been carrying some sort of weapon, and so reluctantly they all withdrew various swords, knives and (in Isabelle's case) whips and threw them to the ground.

"Get down on the ground" the first Seelie knight, the one holding Yvaine hostage, ordered. "Now". After they acquiesced the second knight plunged his dagger into Sebastian's heart, killing him instantly.

"No!" Jon screamed.

"It's okay" said Simon, "he was already halfway through the process of becoming a vampire so he was practically dead anyway"

"That's still no reason to kill him!" Tessa protested. The knight ignored them, and instead turned back in the direction of his fellow knight and Yvaine. He asked, "did you say it was Simon Lewis and Tessa Gray that needed to be killed?", naming the two among them who were part of the original eight. They waited for the deep voice of the first seelie knight to reply, but to their confusion and then horror it was a familiarly light and yet malevolent voice that answered the question.

"They're the ones who _need _to die, but kill them all for all I care" said Yvaine, "or better yet, let's not kill anyone yet; if we take them prisoner they can be used to lure in the others".

"You're _one _of them!" Tessa yelled, outraged, "you've been working for the person behind all of this all this time?"

"Of course not" there was a long pause before she uttered the words that were now inevitable, "I _am _the person 'behind all of this'" she giggled in a sinister voice. Once the first knight had removed his sword from her throat, she ordered them both to restrain their new prisoners and summon 'the others' to help take them to the nearest dungeons.

"Who are you?" Jon asked hopelessly.

"I told you who I am; Yvaine. But if you're looking for a title, I'm more commonly known as Queen of the Unseelie Court".


End file.
